Arm Morello Development Board

Arm’s Morello board is a hardware platform created by Arm in collaboration with the University of Cambridge as part of the UK Digital Security by Design (DSbD) programme. The board integrates CHERI extensions into a high‑performance processor and system‑on‑chip architecture, providing a practical environment for researchers and developers to experiment with capability‑based security【726440244628813†L155-L174】. It ships with a Morello Linux distribution and an adapted LLVM/Clang toolchain, enabling the porting of operating systems, runtimes and applications to CHERI【726440244628813†L155-L174】.

Morello’s purpose is to industrialise capability-based security. By building CHERI support into hardware, the board allows developers to explore how fine‑grained memory protection and compartmentalisation can improve the security of operating systems, web browsers, IoT devices and cloud platforms【726440244628813†L176-L183】.

Requesting a Board

Access to Morello boards is limited to projects that advance CHERI research and adoption. When applying for a board, applicants are asked to describe their project, demonstrate the value their work will bring to the CHERI ecosystem and explain why alternative platforms are not suitable【726440244628813†L198-L215】. Providing information about the organisation and team behind the proposal also helps reviewers allocate boards to the most impactful initiatives 【726440244628813†L198-L215】.

For those wishing to return an unused board for reuse, see the Morello return page.