Persistent Memory Security Threats to Interprocess Isolation

Abstract

Persistent memory object (PMO) is a general system abstraction for holding persistent data in persistent main memory, managed by an operating system. A PMO programming model breaks interprocess isolation as it results in the sharing of persistent data between two processes as they alternatively access the same PMO. In this article, we discuss security implications of a PMO model. We demonstrate that the model enables one process to affect execution of another process, even without sharing a PMO over time. This allows an adversary to launch inter-PMO security attacks if two processes are linked via other unshared PMOs. We present formalization of inter-PMO attacks, their examples, and potential strategies to defend against them.