CCSI Officer course · Module 02 of 10
Trusted execution environments: SGX, TDX, SEV-SNP and Arm CCA
How the major CPU TEE families work, what each one puts inside the trusted computing base, and what their measurements and attestation reports look like.
Learning objectives
- Distinguish process-level enclaves from confidential VMs
- Describe the isolation mechanism and measurement registers of Intel SGX, Intel TDX, AMD SEV-SNP and Arm CCA
- Choose a TEE family based on TCB size, porting effort and attestation needs
Lessons
Lesson 2.1 · 12 min
Enclaves versus confidential VMs
Two architectural approaches with very different TCBs and porting costs.
Lesson 2.2 · 15 min
Intel SGX and Intel TDX
Enclave measurements (MRENCLAVE, MRSIGNER), trust domains, the TDX module, and TD measurement registers.
Lesson 2.3 · 15 min
AMD SEV-SNP and Arm CCA
Reverse map table integrity, VCEK-signed attestation reports, and Arm's Realm Management Extension.
Check your understanding
Module 2 quiz
6 questions · pass mark 80%
1.Which TEE protects part of a single process rather than a whole VM?
2.In SGX, which value would you pin to accept only one exact enclave build?
3.What does the Reverse Map Table add in AMD SEV-SNP?
4.In Intel TDX, where does the TDX module run?
5.Which Arm CCA component manages Realms on behalf of the hypervisor?
6.A TDX attestation policy checks only MRTD. What is the main risk?
Glossary
- MRENCLAVE / MRSIGNER
- SGX enclave identity values: hash of initial enclave contents, and hash of the signer's public key.
- MRTD / RTMR
- Intel TDX build-time and runtime measurement registers for a trust domain.
- VCEK
- Versioned Chip Endorsement Key: per-chip, per-TCB-version AMD key that signs SEV-SNP attestation reports.
- RMP
- Reverse Map Table: SEV-SNP structure tracking the owner of each physical page.
- RME / RMM
- Arm Realm Management Extension and Realm Management Monitor, the building blocks of Arm CCA.