Application security support in the operating system kernel

Abstract

Application security is typically coded in the application. In kernelSec, we are investigating mechanisms to implement application security in an operating system kernel. The mechanisms are oriented towards providing authorization properties, and this goal drives the design of permissions and protection mechanisms.The resulting system is dynamic, allowing the set of permissions for a program to evolve during program execution. This reduces the need for users and applications to be aware of protection mechanism, since the protection mechanism provides the user with more freedom in how they do things. We explore these properties through a number of examples.KernelSec also supports a group (role) mechanism which can define constrained groups enabling groups which only grow, only shrink, are constant, are mutually exclusive with other groups, and which allow inheritance. Moreover groups are used to regulate group membership and allow group administration by non-privileged users.