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VIMA: A Privacy-Preserving Integrity Measurement Architecture for Containerized Environments
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| Abstract: | Integrity verification and attestation are critical in containerized environments, where traditional Linux Integrity Measurement Architecture (IMA) falls short due to its lack of container-specific contextualization. These gaps undermine container autonomy, escalate privacy risks, and impede granular integrity checks. Addressing these challenges, this paper introduces the Virtual IMA (VIMA), a novel framework that refines Linux IMA’s principles to support containerized settings. Using nested Merkle trees, VIMA’s Two-Tree Architecture (2TA) enables detailed integrity assessments across system-wide monolithic trees and individual container trees. Integrating Merkle and zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs establishes VIMA as a secure, privacy-preserving verification and attestation solution. Our comparative analysis and initial prototype testing reveal that VIMA significantly improves upon traditional IMA with minimal performance overhead, offering substantial scope for optimization. |
BibTeX
@article{tches-2025-36001,
title={VIMA: A Privacy-Preserving Integrity Measurement Architecture for Containerized Environments},
journal={IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems},
publisher={Ruhr-Universität Bochum},
volume={2025},
pages={1053-1076},
url={https://tches.iacr.org/index.php/TCHES/article/view/12437},
doi={10.46586/tches.v2025.i4.1053-1076},
author={Omar Jarkas and Ryan K L Ko and Naipeng Dong and Redowan Mahmud},
year=2025
}