Breakpoint insertion into kernel pages

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory comprising machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to:
• execute a hypervisor to support at least one guest;
• with the hypervisor, receive a first request from the at least one guest, the first request being to write a first piece of data to a first memory location within an executable guest memory page;
• with the hypervisor, in response to detecting an Extended Page Table (EPT) violation resulting from the first request, determine that the first piece of data comprises a breakpoint;
• with the hypervisor, in response to determining that, the first piece of data comprises the breakpoint, copy a second piece of data currently stored at the first memory location to a second memory location within hypervisor memory;
• with the hypervisor, overwrite the first memory location with the first piece of data;
• and
• with the hypervisor, overwrite a remainder of the first memory location with no-operation (NOP) instructions.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a first request from a guest to write a first piece of data to a first memory location within an executable guest memory page;
• determining that the first request triggers a violation of a kernel protection mechanism;
• in response to determining that the first request triggers the violation, determining that the first piece of data includes a breakpoint;
• in response to determining that the first piece of data includes a breakpoint, copying a second piece of data currently stored at the first memory location to a second memory location within non-guest writable memory;
• overwriting the first memory location with the first piece of data;
• overwriting a remainder of the first memory location with no-operation (NOP) instructions;
• and
• receiving a second request from the guest to write a third piece of data to the first memory location.