Integrating VirtIO and QEMU on seL4 for Enhanced Devices Virtualization Support

Virtualization is a crucial technology for consolidating workloads and improving resource utilization in modern computing systems. seL4 is a small TCB (Trusted Computing Base) microkernel that can be used as a hypervisor to provide virtualization features. However, providing standard device interfaces to it remains a significant challenge in achieving secure and high-performance virtualization solutions for critical systems. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an approach that leverages the VirtIO standard through QEMU to provide a secure and efficient device virtualization solution for seL4. The feature takes advantage of seL4’s isolation guarantees and enables sharing of complex devices for multiple virtual machines, combined with the efficient communication interface provided by the VirtIO standard. We implemented and evaluated the approach using a set of benchmarks. The proposed approach leverages the VirtIO standard through QEMU on top of the seL4, aiming to offer a virtualization solution that accelerates development speed and enhances architectural flexibility by eliminating the need for native drivers.