Security in Computing 5th Edition by Shari Lawrence Pfleeger, Charles P Pfleeger, Jonathan Margulies

Exercise 11

A problem with either segmented or paged address translation is timing. Suppose a user wants to read some data from an input device into memory. For efficiency during data transfer, often the actual memory address at which the data are to be placed is provided to an I/O device. The real address is passed so that time-consuming address translation does not have to be performed during a very fast data transfer. What security problems does this approach bring?

Step 1 of 4

Security issues

In the given circumstances if the real address is made accessible to the I/O devices the security issues that might arise are given below:

• Confidentiality

The I/O device can corrupt the data at the actual location of the object. The case may also arise when the nearby memory location is accessed by the device without the authority. For example using the pointer the data in the nearby location can be accessed; hence producing security threats of confidentiality of data.