A system, method, and computer program product are provided for implementing a protocol stack for handling memory access requests associated with one or more block devices. The method includes the steps of allocating a thread to process a task associated with a memory access request for a block device; and executing the thread to process the task, wherein the thread implements a state machine that manages calls to two or more layers of the protocol stack. A task dispatcher is implemented for managing the execution of tasks using at least one thread pool, the tasks managing the calls to the various layers of the protocol stack. The protocol stack may implement abstraction layers for virtual storage devices as well as the real block devices.