Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!tank!eecae!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!sei.cmu.edu!krvw
From: williams@cs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Re: 80386 and viruses (PC & UNIX)
Message-ID: <0004.8911212031.AA18181@ge.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 21 Nov 89 17:49:52 GMT
Sender: Virus Discussion List <VIRUS-L@IBM1.CC.Lehigh.EDU>
Lines: 18
Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu

peter%ficc@uunet.UU.NET (Peter da Silva) writes...
>> The isolation hardware in the I386 makes it possible to construct a
>> contained execution environment...  Such an environment would be a
>> useful place to test untrusted programs.
>
>> Has anyone constructed such an environment?
>
>Yes.
>
>It's called "Merge 386" or "Vp/IX".
>
>[Ed. These products, by the way, are DOS emulation boxes for i386
>based UNIX and XENIX products.]

Would someone elaborate on this?  Surely a program (virus or otherwise)
running under the emulator could do the same things, including deleting all
the files it can find, as on DOS.  What protection is provided?  Perhaps
not allowing access to the FAT, boot sector, etc.?