VK_KHR_zero_initialize_workgroup_memory

Other Extension Metadata

Last Modified Date

2020-11-18

IP Status

No known IP claims.

Contributors

• Alan Baker, Google
• Jeff Bolz, Nvidia
• Faith Ekstrand, Intel

Description

This extension allows the use of a null constant initializer on shader Workgroup memory variables, allowing implementations to expose any special hardware or instructions they may have. Zero initialization is commonly used by applications running untrusted content (e.g. web browsers) as way of defeating memory-scraping attacks.

New Structures

• Extending VkPhysicalDeviceFeatures2, VkDeviceCreateInfo:
  • VkPhysicalDeviceZeroInitializeWorkgroupMemoryFeaturesKHR

New Enum Constants

• VK_KHR_ZERO_INITIALIZE_WORKGROUP_MEMORY_EXTENSION_NAME
• VK_KHR_ZERO_INITIALIZE_WORKGROUP_MEMORY_SPEC_VERSION
• Extending VkStructureType:
  • VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_PHYSICAL_DEVICE_ZERO_INITIALIZE_WORKGROUP_MEMORY_FEATURES_KHR

Promotion to Vulkan 1.3

Vulkan APIs in this extension are included in core Vulkan 1.3, with the KHR suffix omitted. External interactions defined by this extension, such as SPIR-V token names, retain their original names. The original Vulkan API names are still available as aliases of the core functionality.

Version History

• Revision 1, 2020-11-18 (Alan Baker)
  • Internal draft version