Secure privilege level execution and access protection

A method comprising:

• separating addressable memory space into chunks, in which zero or more of the chunks address the same physical storage in whole or part as another chunk, and in which at least some of the chunks are associated with policy settings that identify one or more execution capabilities or one or more access capabilities of the chunks, or both, and including at least one policy setting that indicates whether code in the chunk is executable at a system privilege level or not, or whether data in the chunk is accessible as system mode data or not, and
• enforcing whether code execution or data access is allowed for a request, in which the request indicates whether the request is to execute code or access data and an indication of a privilege level of the request, including by identifying a chunk with which the request is associated, accessing the policy settings based upon the request to determine the execution or data access capability of the chunk, and allowing or denying the request based upon the privilege level, whether the request is to execute code or access data and the capability of the chunk with which the request is associated.