OpenXT is an open-source development toolkit for hardware-assisted security research and appliance integration. Released as Open-Source Software (OSS) in June 2014, OpenXT stands on the shoulders of Xen Project and OpenEmbedded. It is derived from XenClient XT, which was first released in May 2011. It includes hardened Xen VMs that can be configured as a user-facing virtualization appliance, for client devices with Linux and/or Windows guests. It has been used to develop managed software appliances to isolate demanding graphics workloads, untrusted workloads and multiple networks on a single laptop or desktop. OpenXT is optimized for x86 devices with Intel VT-d, TXT (Trusted Execution Technology) and a TPM.
OpenXT is being developed to meet the varied needs of the security and virtualization communities, as a toolkit for the configurable disaggregation of operating systems and user workflows. Client appliances developed on OpenXT can contain a mixture of open-source and proprietary software, supporting a range of business models.
2014
LinuxCon NA, Security in the Cloud: Xen, KVM, Containers, George Dunlap
Xen Summit, Security and the Properties of a Xen Virtualization Platform, Philip Tricca
2013
LinuxCon EU, Securing your cloud with Xen’s advanced security features, George Dunlap (video)
Xen Summit, In-Guest Mechanisms to Strengthen Guest Separation, Philip Tricca
Xen Summit, Secure Server Project, Jason Sonnek (video)
Multi-Level (MLS) Hypervisor for Server
2012
Micro-Virtualization, Type-2 Hypervisor, VM Fork, Deprivileged Windows Host
Client Virtualization, VPN VM, Linux Stub Domains, Graphics Virtualization, Inter-VM Communication, SE Linux, Xen Security Modules (XSM), Dynamic Root of Trust Measurement (DRTM), Service VMs, Intel VT-d, Intel TXT.
2010
Secure GUI, Secure networking, Secure storage, Analysis of potential attack vectors
2007
2011
“We present Xoar, a modified version of Xen that retrofits the modularity and isolation principles used in microkernels onto a mature virtualization platform. Xoar breaks the control VM into single-purpose components called service VMs. We show that this componentized abstraction brings a number of benefits: sharing of service components by guests is configurable and auditable, making exposure to risk explicit, and access to the hypervisor is restricted to the least privilege required for each component.”
2008
“We introduce our work to disaggregate the management virtual machine in a Xen-based system … moves the domain builder, the most important privileged component, into a minimal trusted compartment. We illustrate how this approach may be used to implement “trusted virtualisation” and improve the security of virtual TPM implementations.
2007
2006
2003
“This paper presents Xen, an x86 virtual machine monitor which allows multiple commodity operating systems to share conventional hardware in a safe and resource managed fashion, but without sacricing either performance or functionality.”
1998
1981
*This content is from openxt.org and is being used to support a proof of concept documentation effort for OpenXT.