Error Propagation Profiling of Operating Systems

Abstract

An operating system (OS) constitutes a fundamental software (SW) component of a computing system. The robustness of its operations, or lack thereof, strongly influences the robustness of the entire system. Targeting enhancement of robustness at the OS level via use of add-on SW wrappers, this paper presents an error propagation profiling framework that assists in a) systematic identification and location of design and operational vulnerabilities, and b) quantification of their potential impact. Focusing on data (value) errors occurring in OS drivers, a set of measures is presented that aids a designer to locate such vulnerabilities, either on an OS service (system call) basis or a per driver basis. A case study and associated experimental process, using Windows CE .Net, is presented outlining the utility of our proposed approach.