System Design

Hypervisor-First
Architecture

QWAMOS runs directly on ARM64 hardware as a Type-1 hypervisor, providing unprecedented security through hardware-enforced isolation.

Overview

System Architecture

ARM64 Hardware (ARMv8.5-A) • Pointer Authentication • Memory Tagging • BTI Support • Crypto Extensions QWAMOS Hypervisor Microkernel Design - 50K Lines of Code Scheduler Memory Mgmt IOMMU VM Manager Crypto Engine System VM Minimal Linux • Network Stack • Device Drivers • System Services • UI Compositor Android VM App Container • Play Services • App Runtime • Dalvik/ART • Sandboxing Linux VM Development • Full Desktop • Dev Tools • Terminals • Compilers Disposable VMs Temporary • Web Browsing • Untrusted Apps • Testing • Auto-Cleanup Security Services Layer Network Gateway Crypto Services Policy Engine Audit Logger QWAMOS User Interface Wayland Compositor with Hardware Acceleration Apps Settings Status Control Security Privacy
Specifications

Technical Details

Hypervisor Core

Type Type-1 Bare Metal
Architecture Microkernel
Lines of Code ~50,000
Memory Overhead < 100 MB
Boot Time < 5 seconds

VM Management

Max VMs 64
VM Startup < 2 seconds
Context Switch < 1000 cycles
Memory Isolation Hardware EPT
IOMMU Per-VM

Performance

CPU Overhead < 3%
Memory Overhead < 5%
I/O Latency < 10 µs
GPU Support Passthrough
Network SR-IOV
Memory Design

Memory Protection Architecture

Hardware-Enforced Isolation

QWAMOS leverages ARMv8.5-A security features to provide unprecedented memory protection. Each VM has its own isolated address space with hardware-enforced boundaries.

Pointer Authentication

Cryptographic signatures on return addresses

Memory Tagging

Hardware detection of use-after-free bugs

Branch Target Identification

Protection against JOP/ROP attacks

Secure EL2 Execution

Hypervisor runs at highest privilege level

Memory Map

0xFFFF_FFFF_FFFF_FFFF ┐
                      │ Hypervisor (EL2)
0xFFFF_8000_0000_0000 ┤ [Protected]
                      │ 
0xFFFF_0000_0000_0000 ┤ Kernel Space
                      │ [Per-VM Isolated]
0x0000_8000_0000_0000 ┤ 
                      │ User Space
                      │ [Per-App Isolated]
0x0000_0000_0000_0000 ┘

Each VM sees only its own memory
Hardware EPT prevents cross-VM access
IOMMU restricts device DMA
Boot Sequence

Secure Boot Process

1

Hardware Root of Trust

Secure boot starts from hardware fuses

Verify bootloader signature
Load secure monitor (EL3)
Initialize TrustZone
2

Hypervisor Initialization

QWAMOS hypervisor takes control

Setup EL2 exception vectors
Initialize memory management
Configure IOMMU tables
Start crypto engine
3

System VM Launch

Boot minimal Linux system VM

Create VM context
Load kernel image
Setup virtual devices
Start init process
4

User Interface

Start compositor and UI

Initialize Wayland
Start GPU acceleration
Load user session
Ready for use
Development

Building on QWAMOS

VM SDK

Create custom VMs for specialized workloads or development environments.

from qwamos.vm import VMBuilder

vm = VMBuilder()
  .name("dev-environment")
  .memory(4096)  # 4GB RAM
  .cores(2)
  .storage(32768)  # 32GB
  .network("isolated")
  .build()

vm.start()

Security API

Integrate with QWAMOS security features in your applications.

#include 

// Generate quantum-safe key
qw_key_t *key = qw_keygen_mldsa87();

// Sign data
qw_signature_t *sig = qw_sign(
    data, data_len, key
);

// Verify signature
bool valid = qw_verify(
    data, data_len, sig, key
);

Policy Engine

Define security policies for VMs and applications.

name: banking-app
vm_type: android
security:
  network: tor_only
  storage: encrypted
  memory: 2048
  panic_wipe: true
permissions:
  - camera: deny
  - microphone: deny
  - contacts: deny
  - location: deny

Build the Future of Mobile Security

Join our open-source community and contribute to QWAMOS

View on GitHub Developer Docs