Direct Memory Access Remapping for Thunderbolt, Feature Deployment at Platform Level
Anup Rani, Arun Pai, Bhushan Naware, Zong Yang, Tsue-Yi Huang · 2020 IEEE International Conference for Innovation in Technology (INOCON) · 2020
With recent advances that we have seen in storage systems and sub-systems overall; a major observation is on increased capacity which in-turn leads to a requirement of fast data transfers. One such technology that enables fast paced data transfers is Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is a DMA capable device which gives high throughput and performance but at the same time it is susceptible to drive by DMA-attack because of its ability to allow external PCIe connections. This paper takes an overall look on the challenges faced while Thunderbolt feature was integrated and validated at platform level and also follows up on the adoption of the same by OEM partners. Also the security aspects strengthening is addressed by explaining usage of DMA-remapping to mitigate hack threats. This paper comprises the learnings from the overall perspective of end to end feature integration till adoption and releases on the new devices.