A Formal Verification Approach for Linux Kernel Designing

Abstract

Although the Linux kernel is widely used, its complexity makes errors common and potentially serious. Traditional formal verification methods often have high overhead and rely heavily on manual coding. They typically verify only specific functionalities of the kernel or target microkernels and do not support continuous verification of the entire kernel. To address these limitations, we introduce LMVM (Linux Kernel Modeling and Verification Method), a formal method based on type theory that ensures the correct design of the Linux architecture. In the model, the kernel is treated as a top-level type, subdivided into the following sublevels: subsystem, dentry, file, struct, function, and base. These types are defined in the structure and relationships. The verification process includes checking the design specifications for both type relationships and the presence of each type. Our contribution lies primarily in the following two points: 1. This is a lightweight verification. As long as the modeling is complete, architectural errors in the design phase can be identified promptly. 2. The designed “model refactor” module supports kernel updating, and the kernel can be continuously verified by extending the kernel model. To test its usefulness, we develop a set of security communication mechanisms in the kernel, which are verified using our method.