dynamic-merkle-tree · research · also DMT

Dynamic Merkle Tree

A Dynamic Merkle Tree is a research hash-tree design that adapts its shape to storage access patterns to reduce authentication-path costs.

Burke and colleagues use modified splay operations to promote frequently accessed regions while preserving hash-tree invariants. Their FAST 2025 evaluation uses a BDUS-based prototype on EC2 with synthetic and application workloads. The security model assumes trusted VM memory and a root outside the attacker's control. [1]

Relations

related

merkle-tree, dm-verity, rollback-protection

Limitations

• Reported gains are workload- and prototype-specific; they are not measurements of stock Linux dm-verity or evidence of a deployed confidential-VM guarantee. [1]

Citations

1. Burke et al. On Scalable Integrity Checking for Secure Cloud Disks. FAST 2025, sections 3, 6 and 7. (accessed 2026-10-18)

Further reading

2. Hesela: Why a valid checksum can still return the wrong data (accessed 2026-10-18)

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