arXiv subjects

Elaine R. Palmer

Publications and source records attributed to Elaine R. Palmer.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

ACE: Towards A High-Assurance Isolated Virtualization Environment for RISC-V

Confidential computing has proven its value in cloud environments, but its potential for securing edge and high-end embedded systems (e.g., automotive controllers, cryptographic accelerators, telco infrastructure) remains largely unexplored. We present ACE, an open-source, royalty-free virtualization-based confidential computing system for RISC-V targeting these environments. ACE isolates software into confidential virtual machines with narrow, well-defined interfaces, building exclusively on commodity RISC-V hardware without specialized hardware extensions or licensing fees. Our prototype evaluation on the first commercially available RISC-V hardware supporting virtualization shows that ACE is a viable candidate for our target systems.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2023

Towards a Formally Verified Security Monitor for VM-based Confidential Computing

Confidential computing is a key technology for isolating high-assurance applications from the large amounts of untrusted code typical in modern systems. Existing confidential computing systems cannot be certified for use in critical applications, like systems controlling critical infrastructure, hardware security modules, or aircraft, as they lack formal verification. This paper presents an approach to formally modeling and proving a security monitor. It introduces a canonical architecture for virtual machine (VM)-based confidential computing systems. It abstracts processor-specific components and identifies a minimal set of hardware primitives required by a trusted security monitor to enforce security guarantees. We demonstrate our methodology and proposed approach with an example from our Rust implementation of the security monitor for RISC-V.

cs.CR↗