Importance

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Abstract

Methods and apparatus for a secure memory controller. The secure memory controller includes circuitry and logic that is programmed to prevent malicious code from overwrite protected regions of system memory. The memory controller observes memory access patterns and trains itself to identify thread stacks and addresses relating to the thread stacks including stack-frame pointers and return addresses. In one aspect, the memory controller prevents a return address from being overwritten until a proper return from a function call is detected. The memory controller is also configured to prevent malicious code from overwriting page table entries (PTEs) in page tables. Pages containing PTEs are identified, and access is prevented to the PTEs from user-mode code. The PTEs are also scanned to detect corrupted PTEs resulting from bit manipulation by malicious code.

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First Claim