Patent ID: 7380049

Claim:
A method for a virtual machine monitor that executes on a system to protect a memory portion comprising: receiving, by the virtual machine monitor, a request from a requesting agent, to allocate a memory portion; marking the allocate portion of memory as protected; receiving a notice that an inappropriate attempt has been made to access the allocated memory portion, wherein the source of the access is executing from within a virtual machine; preventing the inappropriate access; allowing the virtual machine monitor primary control of the system; determining if the source of the access is authorized to access the allocated memory portion; and if so, re-configuring the system to no longer generate a notice if the allocated memory portion is accessed in the way that generated the received notice; configuring the system to generate a fault if a context switch occurs within the virtual machine; allowing the source of the access to re-attempt the memory access; and upon either the completion of the access or a context switch within the virtual machine, configuring the system to generate a notice if the allocated memory portion is inappropriately accessed.