Non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and system and method for accessing data in device

• Main Authors: KAXIRAS, STEFANOS, BLACK-SCHAFFER, DAVID, HAGERSTEN, ERIK ERNST
• Format: Patent
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: 01.12.2019
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; PHYSICS

Caches may be vulnerable to side-channel attacks, such as Spectre and Meltdown, that involve speculative execution of instructions, revealing information about a cache that the attacker is not permitted to access. Access permission may be stored in the cache, such as in an entry of a cache table or in the region information for a cache table. Optionally, the access permission may be re-checked if the access permission changes while a memory instruction is pending. Optionally, a random index value may be stored in a cache and used, at least in part, to identify a memory location of a cacheline. Optionally, cachelines that are involved in speculative loads for memory instructions may be marked as speculative. On condition of resolving the speculative load as non-speculative, the cacheline may be marked as non-speculative; and on condition of resolving the speculative load as mis-speculated, the cacheline may be removed from the cache.