Upon building a kernel for a small CLI system what option is the best one? I don

Question

Upon building a kernel for a small CLI system what option is the best one?

I don't know much about what microkernels can do so bear with me if I'm being ignorant:

In one instance, there are monolithic kernels which allow the user control over services before reaching hardware but this could compromise the kernel itself.

On the other hand microkernels do the same thing and software does not reach the kernel but, since it speaks directly to the hardware through the servers, is this making it potentially unstable and insecure?

Explanation / Answer

In theory, a microkernel, by putting the bulk of the driver code into userspace, is more resilient against attacks: an attack against one driver can't easily be used to leverage access to the other drivers, or gain kernel-level privileges. Additionally, the reduced size of the kernel gives it a much smaller attack surface.

In practice, kernel architecture is only a minor aspect of security. The designer's attention to security and the quality of the implementation have a far greater impact.

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