{"id":31972,"date":"2023-05-11T11:01:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T15:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.au\/blog\/microkernel-os-for-smart-devices\/31972\/"},"modified":"2023-05-12T19:14:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T08:14:14","slug":"microkernel-os-for-smart-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.au\/blog\/microkernel-os-for-smart-devices\/31972\/","title":{"rendered":"Microkernel OSs against threats to smart devices"},"content":{"rendered":"

By 2030, the number of\u00a0 connected devices in the world is expected to reach 24 billion<\/a>. This statistic includes a multitude of household systems and accessories: smart watches, fitness bands, speakers with intellectual voice assistants, and all the devices they control. It also covers smart ATMs, POS terminals, video surveillance cameras and the like. These are all devices users are accustomed to trusting with their sensitive data but are not quite able to control the security of. At the same time, internet-of-things (IoT) devices are becoming targets in a growing number of attacks<\/a>. And although vendors try not to emphasize it, the IoT security problem gets more and more relevant \u2014 especially for ecosystems of several connected devices.<\/p>\n

For example, back in 2020, Check Point researchers experimented<\/a> with an attack on a network through a smart lightbulb. They succeeded in loading tweaked firmware into a smart lightbulb and using it to install malware on a device controlling the illumination system. From there, they penetrated the local network. The vulnerability was promptly closed, but what are the guarantees that a similar trick can\u2019t be pulled off using other IoT security loopholes?<\/p>\n

Another example \u2014 a situation involving a Korean KeyWe<\/em> smart-locks vulnerability \u2014 looks even worse. In addition to key generation process flaws, researchers discovered<\/a> some fundamental design problems. These made it fairly easy for attackers to intercept and decrypt the locks\u2019 passwords. Moreover, it was found that it was impossible to update the firmware with a security patch\u00a0\u2014 the vulnerability could only be patched in new locks that are free of the mentioned design flaw.<\/p>\n

The latter example shows that IoT security gaps can originate at the system design level. To avoid such problems, a number of vendors have in recent years turned toward microkernel-based operating systems. In microkernel architecture, the kernel contains several times less code than kernel of a traditional system, and performs only strictly necessary functions \u2014 which makes it more reliable and fault-tolerant.\n<\/p>\n

Microkernel OSs\u2019 popularity outstripping that of Windows and Android<\/h1>\n

\nIf you ask desktop computer users to name the most popular operating system they know of, you\u2019re sure to hear Windows as the answer. Indeed, its share of the global OS market is 72%<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 if counted by the number of computers with Windows onboard. But very few users ever think of what\u2019s going on a notch deeper: at the microchip and microcontroller firmware level. There, the most widespread operating system is MINIX<\/a>, based on microkernel architecture. It\u2019s the OS that comes with Intel ME 11 firmware. Today it\u2019s present in all desktops and laptops equipped with Intel CPUs, which makes two thirds of the \u044586 CPU market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a similar picture in the mobile, portable and embedded devices market. Here the favorite is Android. However, again, if we probe deeper, microkernel OSs are no less common in that market, although they remain in the background. One of the oldest microkernel architecture implementations in the mobile market is QNX<\/a>. This OS came about in 1980s in critical industrial machines, later being used in naval radar stations. Its more modern version, QNX Neutrino, worked in BlackBerry smartphones and in Cisco routers and is now to be found in firmware of hundreds of millions of motor vehicles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Modern

Modern vehicle firmware interface proposed in 2017<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Let\u2019s not forget other devices with microkernel firmware; for example, there\u2019s L4-kernel-family-based systems, including Qualcomm modems and automotive systems based on OKL4, whose popularity peaked in 2012.<\/p>\n

MINIX and L4 are certainly not the most relevant applications out there. Some might even call them vintage. But the evolution of microkernel OSs didn\u2019t stop there: their development was continued by a number of modern smart ecosystem vendors:\n<\/p>\n