Bootstrapping an Architectural Research Platform

Explore the fundamentals of architectural research on the x86 platform in this 32-minute conference talk from Hack.lu 2016. Gain insights into CPU ring privileges, architectural events monitoring, and basic research hypervisors. Learn about emerging technologies and how to leverage existing architectures for capabilities beyond their intended limitations. Discover resources for setting up research environments efficiently, allowing you to focus on core research questions. Delve into topics such as privilege levels, virtual memory, CPU memory translation, interrupts, performance counters, and system management mode. Examine case studies on TLB splitting and memory access trapping, and explore tools like LibVMI, Simplevisor, and the Puff Library. Ideal for security researchers interested in x86 architecture misuse and rapid research setup.

Intro
Architectural Research
Klaus
Privilege Levels
Virtual Memory
CPU Memory
Translation
IDT
EFI
Interrupts
Page Fault
Performance Counters
Branch Tracing
VM Exit
EPT Fault
System Management Mode
Case Study
TLB Split
Memory Access Trap
Thin Hypervisor
Kernel Driver
Bear flank hypervisor
Why bear flank
LibVMI
Simplevisor
Linux
UEFI
Puff Library
Outro