Intel TDX

Asterinas can serve as a secure guest OS for Intel TDX-protected virtual machines (VMs). This documentation describes how Asterinas can be run and tested easily on a TDX-enabled Intel server.

Intel TDX (Trust Domain Extensions) is a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology that enhances VM security by creating isolated, hardware-enforced trust domains with encrypted memory, secure initialization, and attestation mechanisms. For more information about Intel TDX, jump to the last section.

Why choose Asterinas for Intel TDX

VM TEEs such as Intel TDX deserve a more secure option for its guest OS than Linux. Linux, with its inherent memory safety issues and large Trusted Computing Base (TCB), has long suffered from security vulnerabilities due to memory safety bugs. Additionally, when Linux is used as the guest kernel inside a VM TEE, it must process untrusted inputs (over 1500 instances in Linux, per Intel's estimation) from the host (via hypercalls, MMIO, and etc.). These untrusted inputs create new attack surfaces that can be exploited through memory safety vulnerabilities, known as Iago attacks.

Asterinas offers greater memory safety than Linux, particularly against Iago attacks. Thanks to its framekernel architecture, the memory safety of Asterinas relies solely on the Asterinas Framework, excluding the safe device drivers built on top of the Asterinas Framework that may handle untrusted inputs from the host. For more information, see our talk on OC3'24.

Prepare the Intel TDX Environment

Please make sure your server supports Intel TDX.

See this guide or other materials to enable Intel TDX in host OS.

To verify the TDX host status, you can type:

dmesg | grep "TDX module initialized"

The following result is an example:

[   20.507296] tdx: TDX module initialized.

TDX module initialized means TDX module is loaded successfully.

Build and run Asterinas

Download the latest source code.

git clone https://github.com/asterinas/asterinas

Run a Docker container as the development environment.

docker run -it --privileged --network=host --device=/dev/kvm -v $(pwd)/asterinas:/root/asterinas asterinas/asterinas:0.10.3-tdx

Inside the container, go to the project folder to build and run Asterinas.

make run INTEL_TDX=1

If everything goes well, Asterinas is now up and running inside a TD.

Using GDB to Debug

A Trust Domain (TD) is debuggable if its ATTRIBUTES.DEBUG bit is 1. In this mode, the host VMM can use Intel TDX module functions to read and modify TD VCPU state and TD private memory, which are not accessible when the TD is non-debuggable.

Start Asterinas in a GDB-enabled TD and wait for debugging connection:

make gdb_server INTEL_TDX=1

Behind the scene, this command adds debug=on configuration to the QEMU parameters to enable TD debuggable mode.

The server will listen at the default address specified in Makefile, i.e., a local TCP port :1234.

Start a GDB client in another terminal:

make gdb_client INTEL_TDX=1

Note that you must use hardware assisted breakpoints because KVM is enabled when debugging a TD.

About Intel TDX

Intel® Trust Domain Extensions (Intel® TDX) is Intel's newest confidential computing technology. This hardware-based trusted execution environment (TEE) facilitates the deployment of trust domains (TD), which are hardware-isolated virtual machines (VM) designed to protect sensitive data and applications from unauthorized access.

A CPU-measured Intel TDX module enables Intel TDX. This software module runs in a new CPU Secure Arbitration Mode (SEAM) as a peer virtual machine manager (VMM), and supports TD entry and exit using the existing virtualization infrastructure. The module is hosted in a reserved memory space identified by the SEAM Range Register (SEAMRR).

Intel TDX uses hardware extensions for managing and encrypting memory and protects both the confidentiality and integrity of the TD CPU state from non-SEAM mode.

Intel TDX uses architectural elements such as SEAM, a shared bit in Guest Physical Address (GPA), secure Extended Page Table (EPT), physical-address-metadata table, Intel® Total Memory Encryption – Multi-Key (Intel® TME-MK), and remote attestation.

Intel TDX ensures data integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity, which empowers engineers and tech professionals to create and maintain secure systems, enhancing trust in virtualized environments.