Quarterly journal published in SPbPU
and edited by prof. Dmitry Zegzhda
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University
Institute of computer sciences and technologies
information security of computer systems
Information Security Problems. Computer Systems
Published since 1999.
ISSN 2071-8217
IDENTIFYING SECURITY FLAWS IN THE LINUX KERNEL USING SYSTEM CALL FUZZING
P. A. Teplyuk, A. G. Yakunin Altai State Technical University
Annotation: The development of operating systems built on the basis of the Linux kernel contributes to the wider use of Linux distributions as the basis of system software in information systems for various purposes, incl. being objects of critical information infrastructure. The goal of the work is to analyze the available approaches and tools for fuzzing system calls of the Linux kernel, as well as experimental fuzzing testing of some current versions of the kernel, aimed at increasing the overall security of the Linux kernel. Theoretical analysis was used to evaluate and compare existing types of Linux kernel-level vulnerabilities, as well as approaches to kernel fuzzing. An empirical research method was also used, which involved identifying defects and vulnerabilities in a certain configuration of the Linux kernel using fuzzing testing Analyzed critical vulnerabilities at the kernel level, approaches to fuzzing, including system calls, and an experimental study was conducted using the syzkaller fuzzer, which identified defects and vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel versions 4.9 and 5.4, incl. memory use-after-free vulnerability. This area of research requires further development in order to detect new vulnerabilities in current kernel versions
Keywords: operating system kernel, security threats, vulnerabilities, fuzzing, attack surface, syzkaller
Pages 138–151