Popcorn Linux Optimizations: Support for C/POSIX/glibc, Secure Containers, and Advanced Security Mec

Abstract

The project proposes to develop a set of tasks that seeks to help with and accelerate the transition of the Popcorn Linux infrastruc,ture and its variants for the benefit of the DOD. Popcorn Linux enables applications written for a traditional shared memory program,ming model (e.g., POSIX, OpenMP) to run on heterogeneous-ISA hardware without significant custom modifications. This improved progra,mmability is accomplished through innovations across the system software stack (i.e., operating system, compiler, run-time), which h,ides complexities such as ISA/ABI differences, CPUs discrete physical memory, and cross-ISA scheduling and resource management.This, project proposes three tasks to accelerate the transition of the Popcorn Linux infrastructure. First, the project proposes to devel,op robust support of the Popcorn Linux infrastructure for C/POSIX APIs and the glibc C library. Second, the project proposes to deve,lop an advanced Linux container version of Popcorn Linux with security features including memory randomization capabilities and a re,duced attack surface. Third, the project proposes to develop advanced security mechanisms for Popcorn Linux including address space,layout randomization (ASLR) and selective multi-variant execution. The proposed tasks are anticipated to accelerate the transition o,f the Popcorn Linux infrastructure to Naval systems, including the Multi-ISA/PCIe SBIR program targeting NSWCDD?s software systems a,nd NIWC/SPAWAR?s software systems.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Aug 05, 2022
Source ID
N000142212672

Entities

People

  • Binoy Ravindran

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy
  • Virginia Tech

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Cybersecurity.
  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.

Technology Areas

  • Space