Writing Linux Kernel Modules in Safe Rust - Geoffrey Thomas & Alex Gaynor

Geoffrey Thomas and Alex Gaynor explore building a framework for writing Linux kernel modules in safe Rust to prevent memory safety vulnerabilities.

Writing Linux Kernel Modules in Safe Rust - Geoffrey Thomas, Two Sigma Investments & Alex Gaynor, Alloy With 65% of recent Linux kernel vulnerabilities being the result of memory unsafety (buffer overflows, pointers used after being freed, etc.) and not logic errors, both kernel developers and downstream users have wondered whether it's possible to use a safer language than C for kernel development. This talk will explore the presenters' work building a framework for writing kernel modules in Rust and accessing kernel APIs in safe Rust. In particular, the talk will discuss some of the challenges of building binary-compatible kernel modules in Rust, techniques for working with existing C code, and how to design safe bindings over raw kernel APIs. It will also discuss advantages and difficulties for integrating Rust in upstream kernel development and possible directions the upstream kernel community could go.