This technology enables continuous, real-time verification of software execution to ensure programs behave exactly as intended. By validating both control flow and executed instructions during runtime, it prevents attacks such as code injection and unauthorized modifications. The approach delivers strong security with minimal performance impact, making it practical for modern computing systems.
Background: Existing security mechanisms typically verify program integrity only before execution, leaving systems vulnerable to runtime attacks such as code injection, return-oriented programming, and malicious control flow manipulation. Software-based protections often introduce significant performance overhead or provide incomplete coverage, limiting their effectiveness in real-world deployments. As modern computing environments become more complex and security threats more sophisticated, there is a need for a scalable and efficient solution that continuously validates program execution during runtime without degrading system performance.
Technology Overview: The technology introduces a hardware-based mechanism called Run-time Execution Validator (REV), which integrates into an out-of-order processor to validate program execution as it occurs. It computes cryptographic signatures of instruction blocks and compares them against encrypted reference signatures stored in memory, while also verifying correct control flow paths. A signature cache and pipeline-integrated validation logic enable continuous authentication of executed instructions. The system prevents system state changes until validation is confirmed, ensuring that only verified instructions affect execution. This design enables real-time protection against runtime attacks while maintaining compatibility with existing software environments.
Advantages: • Provides continuous real-time validation of program execution • Detects both control flow and code integrity attacks • Eliminates need for binary modification or ISA extensions • Maintains low performance overhead of approximately 2% • Scales to large programs and dynamically linked libraries
Applications: • Secure processors for trusted computing platforms • Cloud and remote execution verification systems • Protection against malware and runtime exploits • Digital rights management enforcement systems • Critical infrastructure and defense computing systems
Intellectual Property Summary: • United States 9,063,721 Issued 6/23/2015 • United States 9,122,873 Issued 9/1/2015 • United States 9,767,284 Issued 9/19/2017
Stage of Development: Implemented in a cycle-accurate x86-64 simulator (PTLsim) with full REV integration; evaluated on SPEC CPU2006 benchmarks (~2B instructions/test, 5-run averages) with modeled hardware behavior and validated against control-flow attack scenarios.
Licensing Status: This technology is available for licensing.
Licensing Potential: Strong potential for adoption by semiconductor manufacturers, cloud service providers, and cybersecurity solution developers seeking hardware-based runtime protection with minimal performance overhead for secure computing environments.
Additional Information: Simulation models, benchmark performance data, and security validation results available upon request.
Inventors: Kanad Ghose