IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,606,631
Granted Patent B2
US 10,606,631 · App. 15/924,760 · Granted Mar 31, 2020

Security enhanced hypervisor userspace notifications

Inventors: Michael Tsirkin (Lexington, MA); Paolo Bonzini (Milan, IT)
Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
G06F9/45558G06F9/4555G06F2009/45579G06F2009/45587G06F2009/45595
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,606,631
App. No.
15/924,760
Granted
Mar 31, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods for enabling a user space process of a guest operating system to initiate hardware operations in a security-enhanced manner. An example method may comprise: configuring a storage unit to store one or more resource requests, the storage unit being accessible to a user space process managed by a guest operating system and to a hypervisor; determining, by a processing device, that the user space process managed by the guest operating system is authorized to store a resource request at the storage unit; and transmitting to the hypervisor a signal associated with the storage unit comprising the resource request, the signal being initiated by a hypercall executed by the user space process.

Claims (33)

1. A method comprising:

configuring a storage unit to store one or more resource requests, the storage unit being accessible to a user space process managed by a guest operating system and to a hypervisor;

determining, by a processing device, that the user space process managed by the guest operating system is authorized to store a resource request at the storage unit; and

transmitting to the hypervisor a signal associated with the storage unit comprising the resource request, the signal being initiated by a hypercall executed by the user space process.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting an indication that the resource request has been processed by the hypervisor.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage unit comprises a portion of memory managed by the guest operating system, and wherein configuring the storage unit comprises a kernel of the guest operating system providing the user space process access to the portion of memory.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more resource requests each comprise an operation for a hardware resource managed by the hypervisor, the hardware resource comprising a network interface device, a graphics device, or a storage device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage unit comprises a plurality of storage units corresponding to a set of hardware resources, wherein each of the plurality of storage units corresponds to a particular hardware resource of the set of hardware resources.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the guest operating system manages a plurality of user space processes and wherein configuring the storage unit comprises the guest operating system providing at least one of the plurality of user space processes with access to store resource requests in one or more of the plurality of storage units that correspond to the set of hardware resources.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting, by the guest operating system, a portion of a guest data storage for the storage unit to store the one or more resource requests; and

providing index data and storage location data of the storage unit to the hypervisor, wherein the index data and the storage location data are stored in a table data structure accessible to the hypervisor.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal causes the processing device to switch from executing the user space process to executing the hypervisor.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein transmitting to the hypervisor the signal further comprises, updating a storage field of the processing device to comprise data indicating that the hypercall is associated with the storage unit, wherein the storage field comprises a register of the processing device and the data comprises an index value corresponding to a table entry indicating a storage address of the storage unit.

10. A system comprising:

a memory;

a processing device operatively coupled to the memory, the processing device to:

configure a storage unit to store one or more resource requests, the storage unit being accessible to a user space process managed by a guest operating system and to a hypervisor;

determine, by the processing device, that the user space process managed by the guest operating system is authorized to store a resource request at the storage unit; and

transmit to the hypervisor a signal associated with the storage unit comprising the resource request, the signal being initiated by a hypercall executed by the user space process.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the storage unit comprises a portion of memory managed by the guest operating system, and wherein configuring the storage unit comprises a kernel of the guest operating system providing the user space process access to the portion of memory.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more resource requests each comprise an operation for a hardware resource managed by the hypervisor, the hardware resource comprising a network interface device, a graphics device, or a storage device.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the storage unit comprises a plurality of storage units corresponding to a set of hardware resources, wherein each of the plurality of storage units corresponds to a particular hardware resource of the set of hardware resources.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the guest operating system manages a plurality of user space processes and wherein configuring the storage unit comprises the guest operating system providing at least one of the plurality of user space processes with access to store resource requests in one or more of the plurality of storage units that correspond to the set of hardware resources.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that cause a processing device executing a hypervisor to:

configure a storage unit to store one or more resource requests, the storage unit being accessible to a user space process managed by a guest operating system and to a hypervisor;

determine, by the processing device, that the user space process managed by the guest operating system is authorized to store a resource request at the storage unit; and

transmit to the hypervisor a signal associated with the storage unit comprising the resource request, the signal being initiated by a hypercall executed by the user space process.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the storage unit comprises a portion of memory managed by the guest operating system.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the resource request comprises an operation for a hardware resource managed by the hypervisor, the hardware resource comprising a network interface device, a graphics device, or a storage device.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the storage unit comprises a plurality of storage units corresponding to a set of hardware resources, wherein each of the plurality of storage units corresponds to a particular hardware resource of the set of hardware resources.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the signal causes the processing device to switch from executing the user space process to executing the hypervisor.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the signal causes a context switch to the hypervisor.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 19, 2018
From: TSIRKIN, MICHAEL; BONZINI, PAOLO
To: RED HAT, INC.
Reel/Frame 045277/0031 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20190286466A1 · Sep 19, 2019
Cited By (1)
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