diff --git a/src/mx/memory/fixed_size_allocator.h b/src/mx/memory/fixed_size_allocator.h
index e4cfff1..8a4154c 100644
--- a/src/mx/memory/fixed_size_allocator.h
+++ b/src/mx/memory/fixed_size_allocator.h
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ public:
             }
         }
 
-        for (const auto core_id : core_set)
+        for (auto core_id = 0; core_id < system::topology::count_cores(); ++core_id)
         {
             const auto node_id = system::topology::node_id(core_id);
             _core_heaps[core_id] = CoreHeap<S>{&_processor_heaps[node_id]};
diff --git a/src/mx/system/environment.cpp b/src/mx/system/environment.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e379d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mx/system/environment.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#include "environment.h"
+#include <mx/util/core_set.h>
+
+using namespace mx::system;
+
+void Environment::set_cores(mx::util::core_set *core_set)
+{
+    system::Environment::get_instance()._coreset = core_set;
+}
+
+mx::util::core_set &Environment::cores()
+{
+    return *Environment::get_instance()._coreset;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/mx/system/environment.h b/src/mx/system/environment.h
index 024f09c..4f7547e 100644
--- a/src/mx/system/environment.h
+++ b/src/mx/system/environment.h
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 #include <topo_session/node.h>
 #include <cstdint>
 
+namespace mx::util {
+    class core_set;
+}
 namespace mx::system {
 /**
  * Encapsulates functionality of the (Linux) system.
@@ -18,6 +21,7 @@ private:
      * @details The application's environment grants access to core services of EalánOS, such as thread creation and memory allocation.
      */
     Libc::Env *_env;
+    util::core_set *_coreset;
 
 public:
     Environment() = default;
@@ -36,6 +40,17 @@ public:
      */
     void setenv(Libc::Env *env) { _env = env; }
 
+    /**
+     * @brief Set core set to be used by memory allocators and scheduler
+     * @param core_set the core_set to use
+    */
+    static void set_cores(util::core_set *core_set);
+
+    /**
+     * @brief returns the core set representing the physical environment MxTasking is running in
+    */
+    static util::core_set &cores();
+
     /**
      * @brief Get the instance object
      * 
@@ -90,7 +105,7 @@ public:
      * @return Topology::Numa_region const& the corresponding node object
      */
     static Topology::Numa_region node(std::uint8_t numa_id) { return topo().node_at_id(numa_id); }
-    
+
     /**
      * @return True, if NUMA balancing is enabled by the system.
      */
diff --git a/src/mx/tasking/runtime.h b/src/mx/tasking/runtime.h
index 07e6bdf..444011e 100644
--- a/src/mx/tasking/runtime.h
+++ b/src/mx/tasking/runtime.h
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public:
         {
             _task_allocator.reset(new (
                 memory::GlobalHeap::allocate_cache_line_aligned(sizeof(memory::fixed::Allocator<config::task_size()>)))
-                                      memory::fixed::Allocator<config::task_size()>(core_set));
+                                      memory::fixed::Allocator<config::task_size()>(system::Environment::cores()));
         }
 
         // Create a new scheduler.
diff --git a/src/mx/util/bits.h b/src/mx/util/bits.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95065e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mx/util/bits.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#pragma once
+#include <cstdint>
+
+namespace mx::util {
+inline long int bit_scan_forward(std::uint64_t val)
+{
+    if (!val)
+        return -1;
+
+    asm volatile("bsf %1, %0" : "=r"(val) : "rm"(val));
+
+    return val;
+}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/mx/util/core_set.cpp b/src/mx/util/core_set.cpp
index 10efa4a..6bbb998 100644
--- a/src/mx/util/core_set.cpp
+++ b/src/mx/util/core_set.cpp
@@ -43,6 +43,21 @@ core_set core_set::build(std::uint16_t cores, const Order order)
     return core_set;
 }
 
+core_set core_set::build(std::uint64_t *core_mask, std::uint16_t count)
+{
+    core_set core_set;
+    for (int c = 0; c < count; ++count)
+    {
+        std::bitset<tasking::config::max_cores()> mask{core_mask[c]};
+        long core = 0;
+
+        while ((core = util::bit_scan_forward(mask.to_ulong())) != -1) {
+            mask.reset(core);
+            core_set.emplace_back(core);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 namespace mx::util {
 std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &stream, const core_set &core_set)
 {
diff --git a/src/mx/util/core_set.h b/src/mx/util/core_set.h
index 99ded80..1189d89 100644
--- a/src/mx/util/core_set.h
+++ b/src/mx/util/core_set.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include <mx/system/topology.h>
 #include <mx/tasking/config.h>
 #include <ostream>
+#include <mx/util/bits.h>
 
 namespace mx::util {
 /**
@@ -91,6 +92,8 @@ public:
      */
     static core_set build(std::uint16_t cores, Order order = Ascending);
 
+    static core_set build(std::uint64_t *core_mask, std::uint16_t count);
+
     bool operator==(const core_set &other) const noexcept
     {
         return _core_identifier == other._core_identifier && _size == other._size && _numa_nodes == other._numa_nodes;