The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#1

Post by ingve » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 3:59 PM UTC

The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]
ts.data61.csiro.au

Re: The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#2

Post by imglorp » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 4:27 PM UTC

The title is missing "from a security standpoint". Of course, everything is a tradeoff. TLDR:

> We have presented what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first quantitative empirical assessment of the security implications of operating system structure, i.e. monolithic vs microkernel-based design.

> Our results provide very strong evidence that operating- system structure has a strong effect on security. 96% of crit- ical Linux exploits would not reach critical severity in a microkernel-based system, 57% would be reduced to low severity, the majority of which would be eliminated alto- gether if the system was based on a verified microkernel. Even without verification, a microkernel-based design alone would completely prevent 29% of exploits.

> Given the limited number of documented exploits, we have to assume our results to have a statistical uncertainty of about nine percentage points. Taking this into account, the results remain strong. The conclusion is inevitable:

> From the security point of view, the monolithic OS design is flawed and a root cause of the majority of compromises. It is time for the world to move to an OS structure appropriate for 21st century security requirements

Re: The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#3

Post by nasoieu » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 4:27 PM UTC

That chart with the growth of the Linux kernel discredits everything. The Linux kernel continues to grow because they are obsessed with keeping all drivers in mainline instead of having a stable API for them as any sane project would.

Re: The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#4

Post by rhencke » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 4:34 PM UTC

nasoieu wrote: post #3

That chart with the growth of the Linux kernel discredits everything. The Linux kernel continues to grow because they are obsessed with keeping all drivers in mainline instead of having a stable API for them as any sane project would.

I believe one of the reasons Linux continues to be successful today is _because_ they keep the drivers in mainline _without_ a stable API.

It is a key motivator to ensure drivers remain available and supported well into the future of Linux.

Re: The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#5

Post by matachuan » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 4:42 PM UTC

Of course it's about Gernot Heiser's verified ukernel...

Re: The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#6

Post by pjmlp » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 4:43 PM UTC

rhencke wrote: post #4

nasoieu wrote: post #3

That chart with the growth of the Linux kernel discredits everything. The Linux kernel continues to grow because they are obsessed with keeping all drivers in mainline instead of having a stable API for them as any sane project would.

I believe one of the reasons Linux continues to be successful today is _because_ they keep the drivers in mainline _without_ a stable API. It is a key motivator to ensure drivers remain available and supported well into the future of Linux.

Which given the way legacy AMD drivers story has been handled on Ubuntu, it is quite far from actually being so.

My Asus Netbook no longer gets all the acceleration options that it used to have pre 16.04.

Linux is successful because it is a free beer UNIX clone.

Re: The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#7

Post by core-questions » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 4:44 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #6

rhencke wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe one of the reasons Linux continues to be successful today is _because_ they keep the drivers in mainline _without_ a stable API. It is a key motivator to ensure drivers remain available and supported well into the future of Linux.

Which given the way legacy AMD drivers story has been handled on Ubuntu, it is quite far from actually being so. My Asus Netbook no longer gets all the acceleration options that it used to have pre 16.04. Linux is successful because it is a free beer UNIX clone.

Womp womp. Most of those netbooks are unusably slow anyhow, and were when they were brand new too. Run an older kernel on there and call it a day.

Re: The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#8

Post by pweissbrod » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 4:46 PM UTC

I wonder if there exists a parallel dimension where linux is microkernel design and folks are pushing for monolothic citing the driver friendliness and performance

Re: The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#9

Post by pjmlp » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 4:46 PM UTC

core-questions wrote: post #7

pjmlp wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which given the way legacy AMD drivers story has been handled on Ubuntu, it is quite far from actually being so. My Asus Netbook no longer gets all the acceleration options that it used to have pre 16.04. Linux is successful because it is a free beer UNIX clone.

Womp womp. Most of those netbooks are unusably slow anyhow, and were when they were brand new too. Run an older kernel on there and call it a day.

Sorry but a DirectX 11 class dual core APU is good enough for general purpose gaming.

And runnig legacy kernels? No thanks.

Re: The Jury Is In: Monolithic OS Design Is Flawed [pdf]

#10

Post by nkkollaw » Wed, Aug 15, 2018, 4:47 PM UTC

Linux is the most popular OS in the world (of course, counting Android), so I guess this means it doesn't really matter is monolithic is flawed, or it is not flawed enough.