Intel IA-32 Manuale Utente
3-4 Vol. 3A
PROTECTED-MODE MEMORY MANAGEMENT
More complexity can be added to this protected flat model to provide more protection. For
example, for the paging mechanism to provide isolation between user and supervisor code and
data, four segments need to be defined: code and data segments at privilege level 3 for the user,
and code and data segments at privilege level 0 for the supervisor. Usually these segments all
overlay each other and start at address 0 in the linear address space. This flat segmentation
model along with a simple paging structure can protect the operating system from applications,
and by adding a separate paging structure for each task or process, it can also protect applica-
tions from each other. Similar designs are used by several popular multitasking operating
systems.
example, for the paging mechanism to provide isolation between user and supervisor code and
data, four segments need to be defined: code and data segments at privilege level 3 for the user,
and code and data segments at privilege level 0 for the supervisor. Usually these segments all
overlay each other and start at address 0 in the linear address space. This flat segmentation
model along with a simple paging structure can protect the operating system from applications,
and by adding a separate paging structure for each task or process, it can also protect applica-
tions from each other. Similar designs are used by several popular multitasking operating
systems.
Figure 3-2. Flat Model
Figure 3-3. Protected Flat Model
Linear Address Space
(or Physical Memory)
Data and
FFFFFFFFH
Segment
Limit
Access
Base Address
Registers
CS
SS
DS
ES
FS
GS
Code
0
Code- and Data-Segment
Descriptors
Stack
Not Present
Linear Address Space
(or Physical Memory)
Data and
FFFFFFFFH
Segment
Limit
Access
Base Address
Registers
CS
ES
SS
DS
FS
GS
Code
0
Segment
Descriptors
Limit
Access
Base Address
Memory I/O
Stack
Not Present