Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Secure control flow prediction
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Application No.: US16241455Application Date: 2019-01-07
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Publication No.: US11347507B2Publication Date: 2022-05-31
- Inventor: Alex Solomatnikov , Krste Asanovic
- Applicant: SiFive, Inc.
- Applicant Address: US CA San Mateo
- Assignee: SiFive, Inc.
- Current Assignee: SiFive, Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US CA San Mateo
- Agency: Young Basile Hanlon & MacFarlane, P.C.
- Main IPC: G06F9/30
- IPC: G06F9/30 ; G06F12/0815 ; G06F12/1027 ; G06F12/02 ; G06F9/50 ; G06F9/355

Abstract:
Systems and methods are disclosed for secure control flow prediction. Some implementations may be used to eliminate or mitigate the Spectre-class of attacks in a processor. For example, an integrated circuit (e.g., a processor) for executing instructions includes a control flow predictor with entries that include respective indications of whether the entry has been activated for use in a current process, wherein the integrated circuit is configured to access the indication in one of the entries that is associated with a control flow instruction that is scheduled for execution; determine, based on the indication, whether the entry of the control flow predictor associated with the control flow instruction is activated for use in a current process; and responsive to a determination that the entry is not activated for use in the current process, apply a constraint on speculative execution based on control flow prediction for the control flow instruction.
Public/Granted literature
- US20190286443A1 SECURE CONTROL FLOW PREDICTION Public/Granted day:2019-09-19
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