Interaction between processes in a secure kernel

Grigoryan David Aramovich

Most modern operating systems are implemented as monolithic cores. Monolithic kernels have many functions and include device drivers, and user-level programs live in separate virtual address spaces. Despite good performance, monolithic cores have poor fault tolerance: a single device driver that causes panic can disable the entire system. Worse, a vulnerability in any part of the monolithic core can lead to a complete takeover of the machine. Traditional operating systems have a monolithic structure, executing all kernel subsystems in a common address space, thereby achieving good performance due to isolation and security. Microkernels improved this design by dividing the operating system components into separate address spaces, but historically they have been prohibitively expensive due to the high cost of switching address spaces.

Keywords:operating system, operating system kernel, monolithic kernel, microkernel, hybrid kernel, interprocess communication performance, multicore processors