A METHOD, APPARATUS, SYSTEM FOR QUALIFYING CPU TRANSACTIONS WITH SECURITY ATTRIBUTES

摘要

Method, apparatus, and system for qualifying CPU transactions with security attributes. Immutable security attributes are generated for transactions initiator by a CPU or processor core that identifying the execution mode of the CPU/core being trusted or untrusted. The transactions may be targeted to an Input/Output (I/O) device or system memory via which a protected asset may be accessed. Policy enforcement logic blocks are implemented at various points in the apparatus or system that allow or deny transactions access to protected assets based on the immutable security attributes generated for the transactions. In one aspect, a multiple-level security scheme is implemented under which a mode register is updated via a first transaction to indicate the CPU/core is operating in a trusted execution mode, and security attributes are generated for a second transaction using execution mode indicia in the mode register to verify the transaction is from a trusted initiator.