More Granular, Less Trust: Enforcing Intra-Process Isolation with Arm CCA in an Untrusted Management Environment

2026-08-20

AI Summary

本文针对特权攻击问题，提出CCAegis系统，利用Arm CCA架构和静态分析方法实现进程内隔离，减少对操作系统的信任依赖。

Abstract

With the increasing adoption of confidential computing, security-sensitive applications are often deployed in confidential virtual machines (CVMs), which reduce reliance on third-party cloud providers. However, privilege attacks originating from the OS remain a significant threat in these environments. Existing finer-grained isolation schemes, such as SHELTER, provide process-level protection but are still vulnerable to intraprocess attacks and potential collusion between the OS and intra-process adversaries. Many current intra-process isolation techniques continue to depend on the OS to manage and enforce isolation domains, leading to a large Trusted Computing Base (TCB). This gap highlights the need for more granular, less trust-dependent confidential computing solutions. In this paper, we present CCAegis, a system that extends the Arm Confidential Compute Architecture (CCA) to enforce intra-process isolation of sensitive data and operations, safeguarding them from both intraprocess adversaries and the OS. We employ static analysis to track the flow of sensitive data and identify functions that handle such data. Permission-switching instructions are inserted at the function call and return points, adjusting permissions via the Granule Protection Table (GPT) to ensure that only designated functions can access the isolated data. Notably, CCAegis places trust solely in the Secure Monitor, which configures the GPTs and manages domain switching, thereby minimizing the TCB. We implemented CCAegis on both an official emulator and a real development board to assess its performance. Our experimental results show that CCAegis effectively isolates sensitive data and operations, with performance overheads ranging from 1.01x to 1.43x compared to the original version across real-world cryptographic workloads.

Problem

• confidential computing
• intra-process isolation
• trusted computing base
• privilege attacks
• sensitive data

Innovation

• Intra-Process Isolation
• Arm CCA
• Granule Protection Table
• Trusted Computing Base
• Confidential Computing