Technical reports
Efficient spatial and temporal safety for microcontrollers and application-class processors
July 2023, 189 pages
This technical report is based on a dissertation submitted December 2022 by the author for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the University of Cambridge, Churchill College.
DOI: 10.48456/tr-984
Abstract
This thesis discusses the implementation of Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions (CHERI) secure capabilities for RISC-V microarchitectures. This includes implementations for three different scales of core, including microcontrollers and the first open application of CHERI to a superscalar processor. Tradeoffs in developing the architecture and performant microarchitecture are investigated. The processors are then used as a platform to conduct research in reducing the overheads for achieving temporal safety with CHERI.
CHERI offers a contemporary cross-architecture description of capabilities. The initial design was previously carried out in a single MIPS processor. Based on its success in this context, this thesis investigates the microarchitectural implications across a wider range of processors. To improve adoption, this work is performed on the more contemporary RISC-V architecture. The thesis also explores the microarchitectural implications of architectural decisions arising from the adaptation of CHERI to this new context.
The first implementations are to the Piccolo and Flute microcontrollers. They present new tradeoffs, for example being the first CHERI implementations supporting a merged register file and capability mode bit. The area and frequency implications are evaluated on FPGA, and the performance and power overheads are investigated across a range of benchmarks. To validate correctness, the processors are integrated into a new TestRIG infrastructure.
This thesis also develops the first open instantiation of CHERI for a superscalar out-of-order application-class core: RiscyOO. This presents new questions due to the very different design of the more sophisticated microarchitecture, and highlights more architectural tradeoffs. Again, the processor is evaluated on FPGA, investigating area, frequency, power, and performance. This allows the first analysis of how the overheads scale differently across different sizes of core.
Finally, the augmented processors are used as a platform to refine the use of CHERI for temporal safety. Significant improvements are made to the architecture-neutral model used for revocation sweeps. In addition, processor-specific acceleration of revocation is performed, including new approaches for caching capability tags.
Full text
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BibTeX record
@TechReport{UCAM-CL-TR-984,
author = {Rugg, Peter David},
title = {{Efficient spatial and temporal safety for microcontrollers
and application-class processors}},
year = 2023,
month = jul,
url = {https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-984.pdf},
institution = {University of Cambridge, Computer Laboratory},
doi = {10.48456/tr-984},
number = {UCAM-CL-TR-984}
}