SEV

SEV, in computing, refers to Secure Encrypted Virtualization, a technology developed by AMD to protect the memory of virtual machines. It encrypts the memory of each guest VM with a unique per-VM key managed by the processor’s secure hardware, isolating VM memory from the host operating system and hypervisor. This confidentiality helps prevent data leakage from the host or other tenants in shared environments.

The architecture centers on the AMD Secure Processor, which stores and handles encryption keys, and a hardware-assisted memory encryption engine that transparently encrypts and decrypts memory pages as they are accessed. A hypervisor can manage keys and configuration, and remote attestation enables verification that a VM is running on genuine hardware with the expected software stack.

SEV has been extended with notable features. SEV-ES (Encrypted State) protects the CPU state during VM pauses, migrations, and other transitions, safeguarding register contents and related data. SEV-SNP (Secure Nested Page) adds memory integrity protections and stronger attestation, improving resistance to certain attack vectors and offering enhanced paging and isolation guarantees.

Adoption has grown in data centers and cloud environments that use AMD processors. Implementing SEV may incur some performance overhead and requires compatible firmware, management tooling, and software support within the virtualization stack. Security research has demonstrated vulnerabilities in earlier implementations, prompting ongoing improvements such as SEV-ES and SEV-SNP and their corresponding mitigations.

In non-technical contexts, SEV can have other meanings; however, within computing, it most commonly denotes Secure Encrypted Virtualization.