Synthesizing safe and efficient kernel extensions for packet processing
Qiongwen Xu, Michael D. Wong, Tanvi Wagle, Srinivas Narayana, Anirudh Sivaraman · 2021
Extended Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) has emerged as a powerful method to extend packet-processing functionality in the Linux operating system. BPF allows users to write code in high-level languages (like C or Rust) and execute them at specific hooks in the kernel, such as the network device driver. To ensure safe execution of a user-developed BPF program in kernel context, Linux uses an in-kernel static checker. The checker allows a program to execute only if it can prove that the program is crash-free, always accesses memory within safe bounds, and avoids leaking kernel data.