Asterinas: A Linux ABI-Compatible, Rust-Based Framekernel OS with a Small and Sound TCB

Abstract

How can one build a feature-rich, general-purpose, Rust-based operating system (OS) with a minimal and sound Trusted Computing Base (TCB) for memory safety? Existing Rust-based OSes fall short due to their improper use of unsafe Rust in kernel development. To address this challenge, we propose a novel OS architecture called framekernel that realizes Rust's full potential to achieve intra-kernel privilege separation, ensuring TCB minimality and soundness. We present OSTD, a streamlined framework for safe Rust OS development, and Asterinas, a Linux ABI-compatible framekernel OS implemented entirely in safe Rust using OSTD. Supporting over 210 Linux system calls, Asterinas delivers performance on par with Linux, while maintaining a minimized, memory-safety TCB of only about 14.0% of the codebase. These results underscore the practicality and benefits of the framekernel architecture in building safe and efficient OSes.