COSMIC and Mocha

COSMIC is a new open-source project, funded by the UK government, to deliver a CHERI-capable open-source secure enclave design, codenamed CHERI-Mocha. It runs between November 2025 and March 2028, and highlights the UK government’s support for our Security by Design strategy.

COSMIC is led by lowRISC®, with support from Capabilities Limited.

The new key component in CHERI-Mocha is CVA6-CHERI: a 64-bit Linux-capable version of the CVA6 processor enhanced with CHERI memory safety capabilities. CHERI-Mocha extends CVA6-CHERI with IP from the  OpenTitan® root of trust project to enable its use as a secure enclave.

CHERI-Mocha is the first open source implementation of CHERI on the RISC-V processor architecture.

Since secure enclaves are intended to run complex software stacks, the addition of CHERI can contribute greatly to the security of the whole system.