A method of enforcing a set of security policies may comprise executing, by a first processor, a first set of processor instructions directed to conventional tasks, and executing, by a second processor, a second set of processor instructions directed to manipulating metadata. The executing by the second processor may comprise (i) evaluating a current instruction being executed by the first processor, along with a metadata tag associated with the current instruction, (ii) identifying a rule in a rule cache that is applicable to the current instruction and the associated metadata tag, and (iii) applying a policy decision to the current instruction according to the rule.