Preemption of a container in a secure computation environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11010494-B2
Application number	US-201916566391-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2019
Priority date	Dec 14, 2015
Publication date	May 18, 2021
Grant date	May 18, 2021

Abstract

A container corresponding to executable code may be received. The container may be executed in a secure computation environment by performing one or more operations specified by the executable code of the container. An instruction to terminate the executing of the container may be received from a high level operating system (HLOS) that is external to the secure computation environment. A determination may be made as to whether the container is associated with a preemption privilege and the executing of the container may be terminated after receiving the instruction from the HLOS based on the determination of whether the container is associated with the preemption privilege.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a container corresponding to executable code;
executing the container in a secure computation environment by performing one or more operations specified by the executable code of the container;
identifying a first timer value associated with the executing of the container in the secure computation environment;
determining whether the container is associated with a preemption privilege by verifying a cryptographic signature of the container during execution of the container;
modifying the first timer value to a second timer value responsive to a determination of the container being associated with the preemption privilege; and
terminating, by a processing device, the executing of the container based on the second timer value responsive to the determination of the container being associated with the preemption privilege.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
terminating, by the processing device, the executing of the container based on the first timer value responsive to a determination of the container not being associated with the preemption privilege.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from a high level operating system (HLOS) that is external to the secure computation environment, an instruction to terminate the executing of the container; and
ignoring the instruction from the HLOS until the terminating the executing of the container based on the second timer value in response to determining that the container is associated with the preemption privilege.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first timer value is a default timer value of the secure computation environment for another container that is not associated with any preemption privilege.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether an operation of the one or more operations specified by the executable code of the container that is currently being performed corresponds to a modification of a resource associated with the secure computation environment,
wherein the terminating of the executing of the container is further based on the determination of whether the operation that is currently being performed corresponds to the modification of the resource so that the terminating of the executing of the container is performed after a completion of the operation that corresponds to the modification of the resource.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the modification of the resource is a write operation to one-time programmable (OTP) memory.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the container is associated with the preemption privilege comprises:
verifying that the cryptographic signature is from a root entity that is associated with the container, wherein the modifying the first timer value to the second timer value comprises adding an amount of time to a watchdog timer that is associated with the secure computation environment in response to verifying the cryptographic signature, wherein the amount of time is the difference between the first timer value and the second timer value.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the watchdog timer corresponds to a maximum amount of time for the secure computation environment to execute the container.

9. A system comprising:
a memory; and
a processing device operatively coupled with the memory to:
receive a container corresponding to executable code;
execute the container in a secure computation environment by performing one or more operations specified by the executable code of the container;
identify a first timer value associated with execution of the container in the secure computation environment;
determine whether the container is associated with a preemption privilege by verifying a cryptographic signature of the container during execution of the container;
modify the first timer value to a second timer value responsive to a determination of the container being associated with the preemption privilege; and
terminate execution of the container based on the second timer value responsive to the determination of the container being associated with the preemption privilege.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processing device is further to:
terminate execution of the container based on the first timer value responsive to a determination of the container not being associated with the preemption privilege.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processing device is further to:
receive, from a high level operating system (HLOS) that is external to the secure computation environment, an instruction to terminate execution of the container; and
in response to a determination that the container is associated with the preemption privilege, ignore the instruction from the HLOS until a termination of execution of the container based on the second timer value.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processing device is further to:
determine whether an operation of the one or more operations specified by the executable code of the container that is currently being performed corresponds to a modification of a resource associated with the secure computation environment,
wherein, to terminate execution of the container, the processing device is further to terminate execution of the container further based on the determination of whether the operation that is currently being performed corresponds to the modification of the resource so that termination of execution of the container is performed after a completion of the operation that corresponds to the modification of the resource.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the modification of the resource is a write operation to one-time programmable (OTP) memory.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein to determine whether the container is associated with the preemption privilege, the processing device is further to:
verify that the cryptographic signature is from a root entity that is associated with the container, wherein, to modify the first timer value to the second timer value, the processing device is further to add an amount of time to a watchdog timer that is associated with the secure computation environment in response to verifying the cryptographic signature, wherein the amount of time is the difference between the first timer value and the second timer value.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving a container corresponding to executable code;
executing the container in a secure computation environment by performing one or more operations specified by the executable code of the container;
identifying a first timer value associated with the executing of the container in the secure computation environment;
determining whether the container is associated with a preemption privilege by verifying a cryptographic signature of the container during execution of the container;
modifying the first timer value to a second timer value responsive to a determination of the container being associated with the preemption privilege; and
terminating the executing of the container based on the second timer value responsive to the determination of the container being associated with the preemption privilege.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:
terminating, by the processing device, the executing of the container based on the first timer value responsive to a determination of the container not being associated

Assignees

• Cryptography Res Inc

Inventors

• Kumar Ambuj
• Rawlings William Craig
• Perez Ronald
• Pochuev Denis Alexandrovich
• Hamburg Michael Alexander
• Kocher Paul

Classifications

• G06F21/52 Primary

  during program execution, e.g. stack integrity {; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow} · CPC title

• G06F21/602

  Providing cryptographic facilities or services · CPC title

• G06F21/57

  Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities · CPC title

• G06F21/44

  Program or device authentication · CPC title

• G06F21/45

  Structures or tools for the administration of authentication · CPC title