The Kernel Self-Protection project aims to make Linux more secure
Kernel Keeper
© Lead Image © stylephotographs, 123RF.com
Security vulnerabilities in the kernel often remain undetected. The kernel hacker initiative, Kernel Self-Protection, promotes safe programming techniques to keep attackers off the network, and, if they do slip through the net, mitigate the consequences.
Any Black Hat who finds a previously unknown vulnerability in the Linux kernel has hit the jackpot. Potentially millions of servers and embedded devices are suddenly open to attack, and the attacker can usually gain root privileges. Users clearly don't want this to happen, and kernel makers try to prevent such events.
Based on pure theory, strict coding standards and a sophisticated software quality management system ensure that loopholes are found immediately and eliminated before the release. A shining and rare example is OpenBSD, which in 20 years' time has only had two significant security breaches [1]. Although I am certainly a supporter of the vigilant approach followed by OpenBSD, we have to be realistic: The Linux kernel contains mountains of code that no one can review with the required depth; dependencies vary, and thus so do the possible attack vectors. (See the box entitled "Harmless Start" for a complex example.)
The complexity of the Linux kernel means that it is likely to carry legacy ballast and bugs for an indefinite period of time. At the end of 2010 [4], Jonathan Corbet checked how long the safety-relevant bugs eliminated in that year had existed until discovered: 22 of the 80 loopholes examined had been in the code for more than five years!
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