Antihypervisors

An antihypervisor is a theoretical concept in computer security. It describes a malicious program that could potentially disguise itself as a legitimate hypervisor, or virtual machine monitor (VMM). A hypervisor is software that creates and manages virtual machines, allowing multiple operating systems to run on a single physical computer.

The idea of an antihypervisor is that it would run at a privileged level, below the guest operating systems and potentially even below the host operating system. This privileged position would allow it to intercept and manipulate the operations of the virtual machines it is managing. For example, it could spy on data, alter program execution, or prevent certain actions from occurring.

The primary goal of an antihypervisor would be to gain stealthy and persistent control over the host system and its virtualized environments. By operating at this low level, it could be very difficult to detect by the operating systems running above it, as they would be unaware of the malicious software controlling their execution.

While the concept of an antihypervisor is discussed in security research and theoretical contexts, it is important to note that there is no widespread evidence of such attacks being practically implemented or deployed in the wild. The development and detection of sophisticated malicious software are ongoing areas of research. The security of hypervisors themselves is a critical concern for virtualization platforms.