SoK: Analysis of Accelerator TEE Designs

—Accelerator trusted execution environment (TEE) is a popular technique that provides strong confidentiality, integrity, and isolation protection on sensitive data/code in accelerators. However, most studies are designed for a specific CPU or accelerator and thus lack generalizability. Recent TEE surveys partially summarize the threats and protections of accelerator computing, while they have yet to provide a guide to building an accelerator TEE and compare the pros and cons of their security solutions. In this paper, we provide a holistic analysis of accelerator TEEs over the years. We conclude a typical framework of building an accelerator TEE and summarize the widely-used attack vectors, ranging from software to physical attacks. Furthermore, we provide a systematization of accelerator TEE’s three major security mechanisms: (1) access control, (2) memory encryption/decryption, and (3) attestation. For each aspect, we compare varied security solutions in existing studies and conclude their insights. Lastly, we analyze the factors that influence the TEE deployment on real-world platforms, especially on the trusted computing base (TCB) and compatibility issues.