Protected access to virtual memory

An system for controlling access to protected memory, the system comprising:

• a physical computer memory;
• a secure memory management architecture coupled to the physical computer memory and configured to:
• receive a request for a region of protected virtual memory addresses
• reserve one or more addresses from the protected virtual memory address window as the region of protected virtual memory addresses
• identify one or more pages of physical memory;
• authenticate the identified one or more pages of physical memory as able to be protected;
• and
• when the one or more pages are authenticated, map one or more addresses from the protected virtual memory address window to one or more addresses in the pages of physical memory.

A secure memory management hardware component of a computing device configured to controlling access to a protected physical memory of the computing device, the secure memory management hardware component configured to operate to:

• obtain a first security attribute for a device requesting access to the physical memory at a physical memory address mapped to by a protected virtual memory address;
• compare the first security attribute against a second security attribute associated with the protected virtual memory address;
• and
• when the first and second security attributes are compatible, allow the agent to access the physical memory.