Memory scan-based process monitoring
AssigneeHewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
InventorsGeoffrey Ndu, Nigel John Edwards
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A technique includes an operating system agent of a computer system monitoring a process to detect whether an integrity of the process has been compromised. The monitoring includes the operating system agent scanning a data structure. The process executes in a user space, and the data structure is part of an operating system kernel space. The technique includes a hardware controller of the computer system listening for a heartbeat that is generated by the operating system agent. The hardware controller takes a corrective action in response to at least one of the hardware controller detecting an interruption of the heartbeat, or the operating system agent communicating to the hardware controller a security alert for the process.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- an operating system agent of a computer system monitoring a process to detect whether an integrity of the process has been compromised, wherein the monitoring comprises the operating system agent scanning a data structure, the process executes in a user space, and the data structure is part of an operating system kernel space;
- a hardware controller of the computer system listening for a heartbeat generated by the operating system agent;
- and
- the hardware controller taking a corrective action in response to at least one of the hardware controller detecting an interruption of the heartbeat, or the operating system agent communicating to the hardware controller a security alert for the process.
A non-transitory storage medium that stores machine-readable instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:
- scan a kernel memory space associated with a process to detect a memory state corresponding to the process being compromised by a security attack;
- send a first heartbeat to a hardware controller;
- and
- in response to detection of the memory state, communicate an alert to the hardware controller to cause the hardware controller to take corrective action.
A computer platform comprising:
- a baseboard management controller to:
- monitor a first heartbeat provided by a loadable operating system kernel extension;
- and
- in response to a detected interruption of the first heartbeat or a communication of a security alert from the operating system kernel module, initiate an action to address the security alert;
- a hardware processor other than the baseboard management controller;
- and
- a memory to store instructions corresponding to the operating system kernel extension, wherein the instructions, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the hardware processor to:
- listen for a second heartbeat generated by the process;
- scan a kernel memory space associated with the process to detect a memory state corresponding to an integrity of the process being compromised;
- send the first heartbeat to the baseboard management controller;
- and
- in response to at least one of a failure to detect the second heartbeat or the detection of the memory state, communicate the security alert to the baseboard management controller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.