OSS + ELC EU 2026

Linux was not developed around fault-containment properties expected of safety-certifiable software.

The linear map lets kernel code access memory across userspace ownership boundaries, so corruption can affect another process or container. Shared slab/page allocators and per-CPU caches compound this risk: corrupted state may remain latent and later affect unrelated subsystems. MMIO can cause external interference when a faulty driver accesses the wrong register or device because of corrupted state or an incorrect Device Tree or ACPI-derived base address.

Building on ELISA Linux Features WG (LFSCS) work, we use ks-nav call-tree artifacts to show that even narrow services depend on shared infrastructure across subsystems.

Reducing the configuration lowers function count but also usability; restoring functionality introduces transitive dependencies, so assessment cannot be limited to newly enabled code.

These findings challenge treating Linux as safe by default or relying on proven-in-use arguments alone. In a monolithic, shared-address-space kernel, fault containment and qualification scope must be demonstrated, not assumed.