Secure enclave-based guest firewall

1. A method for implementing a secure enclave-based guest firewall, the method comprising:

loading, by a host system, a policy enforcer for a firewall into a secure enclave of a virtual machine (VM) running on the host system, the secure enclave corresponding to a region of memory in a guest memory address space of the VM that is inaccessible by processes running in other regions of the guest memory address space, the processes including privileged processes that are part of a guest operating system (OS) kernel of the VM;

performing, by a policy manager for the firewall, a remote attestation of the policy enforcer to verify that the policy enforcer is loaded into the secure enclave and that the secure enclave is genuine;

obtaining, by the policy enforcer while running within the secure enclave, one or more security policies from the policy manager for the firewall;

determining, by the policy enforcer while running within the secure enclave, that an event has occurred pertaining to a new or existing network connection between the VM and another machine; and

in response to the determining, applying, by the policy enforcer while running within the secure enclave, the one or more security policies to the new or existing network connection.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the secure enclave is created in the VM using a hypervisor-based enclave technology.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining the one or more security policies from the policy manager comprises:

transmitting, to the policy manager over a secured communication channel, an IP (Internet Protocol) address of the VM; and

receiving, from the policy manager over the secured communication channel, one or more IP address-based security policies associated with the IP address of the VM.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining the one or more security policies from the policy manager comprises, each time a user logs into the VM:

determining a security identifier (ID) associated with the user, the security ID being based on a user name and a group name for the user defined in a directory service;

transmitting, to the policy manager over a secured communication channel, the security ID; and

receiving, from the policy manager over the secured communication channel, one or more ID-based policies associated with the security ID.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein applying the one or more security policies comprises:

determining another security ID for a user associated with the new or existing network connection; and

finding, from among the one or more ID-based policies received from the policy manager, at least one ID-based policy pertaining to said another security ID; and

applying the at least one ID-based policy.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more security policies are stored within the secure enclave.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining that an event has occurred pertaining to a new or existing network connection between the VM and another machine comprises:

trapping, by the policy enforcer, the event via a synchronous event trapping mechanism supported by the secure enclave.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program code executable by a host system for implementing a secure enclave-based guest firewall, the method comprising:

loading a policy enforcer for a firewall into a secure enclave of a virtual machine (VM) running on the host system, the secure enclave corresponding to a region of memory in a guest memory address space of the VM that is inaccessible by processes running in other regions of the guest memory address space, the processes including privileged processes that are part of a guest operating system (OS) kernel of the VM;

performing, by a policy manager for the firewall, a remote attestation of the policy enforcer to verify that the policy enforcer is loaded into the secure enclave and that the secure enclave is genuine;

obtaining, by the policy enforcer while running within the secure enclave, one or more security policies from the policy manager for the firewall;

determining, by the policy enforcer while running within the secure enclave, that an event has occurred pertaining to a new or existing network connection between the VM and another machine; and

in response to the determining, applying, by the policy enforcer while running within the secure enclave, the one or more security policies to the new or existing network connection.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the secure enclave is created in the VM using a hypervisor-based enclave technology.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein obtaining the one or more security policies from the policy manager comprises:

transmitting, to the policy manager over a secured communication channel, an IP (Internet Protocol) address of the VM; and

receiving, from the policy manager over the secured communication channel, one or more IP address-based security policies associated with the IP address of the VM.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein obtaining the one or more security policies from the policy manager comprises, each time a user logs into the VM:

determining a security identifier (ID) associated with the user, the security ID being based on a user name and a group name for the user defined in a directory service;

transmitting, to the policy manager over a secured communication channel, the security ID; and

receiving, from the policy manager over the secured communication channel, one or more ID-based policies associated with the security ID.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein applying the one or more security policies comprises:

determining another security ID for a user associated with the new or existing network connection; and

finding, from among the one or more ID-based policies received from the policy manager, at least one ID-based policy pertaining to said another security ID; and

applying the at least one ID-based policy.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the one or more security policies are stored within the secure enclave.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein determining that an event has occurred pertaining to the new or existing network connection between the VM and another machine comprises:

trapping, by the policy enforcer, the event via a synchronous event trapping mechanism supported by the secure enclave.

15. A host system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program code for implementing a secure enclave-based guest firewall for a virtual machine (VM) running on the host system, the program code causing the host system to:

load a policy enforcer for a firewall into a secure enclave of the VM, the secure enclave corresponding to a region of memory in a guest memory address space of the VM that is inaccessible by processes running in other regions of the guest memory address space, the processes including privileged processes that are part of a guest operating system (OS) kernel of the VM;

perform, by a policy manager for the firewall, a remote attestation of the policy enforcer to verify that the policy enforcer is loaded into the secure enclave and that the secure enclave is genuine;

obtain, via the policy enforcer while running within the secure enclave, one or more security policies from the policy manager for the firewall;

determine, via the policy enforcer while running within the secure enclave, that an event has occurred pertaining to a new or existing network connection between the VM and another machine; and

in response to the determining, apply, via the policy enforcer while running within the secure enclave, the one or more security policies to the new or existing network connection.

16. The host system of claim 15 wherein the secure enclave is created in the VM using a hypervisor-based enclave technology.

17. The host system of claim 15 wherein the program code that causes the policy enforcer to obtain the one or more security policies from the policy manager comprises program code that causes the policy enforcer to:

transmit, to the policy manager over a secured communication channel, an IP (Internet Protocol) address of the VM; and

receive, from the policy manager over the secured communication channel, one or more IP address-based security policies associated with the IP address of the VM.

18. The host system of claim 15 wherein the program code that causes the policy enforcer to obtain the one or more security policies from the policy manager comprises program code that causes the policy enforcer to, each time a user logs into the VM:

determine a security identifier (ID) associated with the user, the security ID being based on a user name and a group name for the user defined in a directory service;

transmit, to the policy manager over a secured communication channel, the security ID; and

receive, from the policy manager over the secured communication channel, one or more ID-based policies associated with the security ID.

19. The host system of claim 18 wherein the program code that causes the policy enforcer to apply the one or more security policies comprises program code that causes the policy enforcer to:

determine another security ID for a user associated with the new or existing network connection; and

find, from among the one or more ID-based policies received from the policy manager, at least one ID-based policy pertaining to said another security ID; and

apply the at least one ID-based policy.

20. The host system of claim 15 wherein the one or more security policies are stored within the secure enclave.

21. The host system of claim 15 wherein the program code that causes the policy enforcer to determine that an event has occurred pertaining to the new or existing network connection between the VM and another machine comprises program code that causes the policy enforcer to:

trap the event via a synchronous event trapping mechanism supported by the secure enclave.