Confidential Computing with Device Memory Isolation

A confidential computing (CC) apparatus, comprising:

• a CPU, to run a hypervisor that hosts one or more Trusted Virtual Machines (TVMs);
• and
• a peripheral device, coupled to the CPU and to an external memory,
• wherein the CPU is further to run an Device TVM (DTVM) to:
• perform management operations on the one or more TVMs;
• receive from the hypervisor allocations of memory space for the peripheral device in the external memory;
• allocate the memory space to the peripheral device in the external memory in response to the allocations;
• monitor memory-access requests issued by the hypervisor to the memory space allocated to the peripheral device in the external memory;
• and
• permit or deny the memory-access requests in accordance with a criterion.

A confidential computing (CC) method, comprising:

• running, in a CPU, a hypervisor that hosts one or more Trusted Virtual Machines (TVMs);
• and
• using a TVM-Monitor (TVMM) running in the CPU:
• performing management operations on the one or more TVMs;
• tracking memory space, which is allocated in an external memory to a peripheral device by the hypervisor;
• monitoring memory-access requests issued by the hypervisor to the memory space allocated to the peripheral device in the external memory;
• and
• permitting or denying the memory-access requests, according to a criterion.

A confidential computing (CC) method, comprising:

• running, in a CPU, a hypervisor that hosts one or more Trusted Virtual Machines (TVMs);
• and
• using a Device TVM (DTVM) running in the CPU:
• performing management operations on the one or more TVMs;
• receiving from the hypervisor allocations of memory space for a peripheral device in an external memory;
• allocating the memory space to the peripheral device in the external memory in response to the allocations;
• monitoring memory-access requests issued by the hypervisor to the memory space allocated to the peripheral device in the external memory;
• and
• permitting or denying the memory-access requests in accordance with a criterion.