The Institute of System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) has established a consortium with the purpose of cooperation and organization of efforts among Russian companies, educational institutions, and scientific institutions in order to study the Linux kernel and eliminate vulnerabilities. This consortium was formed on the basis of the newly built 2021 technological center for the safety of operating systems built on the Linux kernel.
The formation of this consortium is expected to prevent duplication of safety research and to contribute to the implementation of safe development principles. It will also attract more participants to work on the safety of the Linux kernel by building on the already-existing work done in the technological center to identify and eliminate vulnerabilities. Thus far, 154 corrections prepared by the center’s employees have been accepted into the main composition of the kernel.
Apart from the identification and elimination of vulnerabilities, the technological center is also in charge of creating the Russian branch of the Linux kernel (based on the core of 5.10, GIT with code) and synchronizing it with the main kernel of Linux. They are also working on developing static, dynamic, and architectural analyses of the kernel, creating testing methods, and developing recommendations on safe development of operating systems based on the kernel.
Additionally, the partners of the center include companies such as Basalt SPO, Baikal Electronics, NTC Module, MCST, NPPKT, Open Mobile Platform, Red Soft, Rusbateteh-Astra, “NTC IT Rosa”, “Fintech,” and “Yandex.obrako.”
The establishment of this consortium represents a significant step towards building a more secure and reliable operating system for businesses, educational institutions, and scientific institutions.