An analysis of the Intel 80×86 security architecture and implementations

Author

Sibert, Olin ; Porras, Phillip A. ; Lindell, Robert

Author_Institution

Oxford Syst. Inc., Lexington, MA, USA

Volume

22

Issue

5

fYear

1996

fDate

5/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

283

Lastpage

293

Abstract

An in depth analysis of the 80×86 processor families identifies architectural properties that may have unexpected, and undesirable, results in secure computer systems. In addition, reported implementation errors in some processor versions render them undesirable for secure systems because of potential security and reliability problems. We discuss the imbalance in scrutiny for hardware protection mechanisms relative to software, and why this imbalance is increasingly difficult to justify as hardware complexity increases. We illustrate this difficulty with examples of architectural subtleties and reported implementation errors

Keywords

computer architecture; computer testing; integrated circuit testing; microprocessor chips; security of data; Intel 80 x 86 security architecture; architectural properties; architectural subtleties; hardware complexity; hardware protection mechanisms; implementation errors; processor families; processor versions; secure computer systems; secure systems; Computer architecture; Computer errors; Computer security; Hardware; Materials testing; Microprocessors; Performance analysis; Performance evaluation; Protection; Trademarks;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0098-5589

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/32.502221

Filename

502221