Architectural enhancements for secure embedded processing

Abstract

In this paper, we present architectural enhancements for ensuringsecure execution of programs on embedded processors. The primarymotivation behind this work is that software attacks often originatefrom unknown vulnerabilities in trusted programs. We propose twotechniques to achieve secure program execution. They include (i)hardware-assisted monitoring of a trusted program's control flowto detect deviant control flow, and (ii) hardware-assisted validationof a program's data properties that may be violated in the eventof an attack. Experiments show that the proposed architecture canbe very effective in preventing a wide range of security threats.