World Congress 2024 • Aug 29, 2024 • Session details

Into the hive of eBPF!

Mohammed Aboullaite

Tired of waiting years for upstream kernel updates? Learn how eBPF securely runs sandboxed code directly within Linux, enabling instant zero-day patching and high-performance networking without system restarts.

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#1 about 2 min

Introduction to the growing popularity of eBPF

Background on why cloud native communities are increasingly discussing eBPF technologies.

#2 about 3 min

Origins and evolution of Berkeley packet filter

The transition from static socket packet filtering to extended Berkeley packet filter execution.

#3 about 2 min

Role of the Linux kernel in handling processes

Understand how common high level commands invoke hundreds of complex kernel system calls.

#4 about 2 min

Challenges involved in extending historical kernel functionality

The friction in proposing upstream kernel patches versus maintaining unstable standalone kernel modules.

#5 about 2 min

Making the Linux kernel programmable with sandboxed execution

How eBPF provides a highly effective virtual machine to safely execute code natively in the kernel.

#6 about 3 min

Compiling and verifying bytecode for safe kernel execution

The execution pipeline compiles C or Rust into verified bytecode before just-in-time compilation runs it natively.

#7 about 2 min

Continuous delivery of eBPF using the BCC library

Modifying a Python based eBPF tracing script on the fly demonstrates live updates without restarting the kernel.

#8 about 2 min

Core benefits of secure eBPF APIs

The architecture enables high efficiency, continuous delivery, and long-term stable kernel APIs without compromising system security.

#9 about 3 min

Attaching programs to network events via kernel hooks

Event-driven eBPF processes bind to kprobes, tracepoints, and XDP interfaces to seamlessly handle network packets.

#10 about 2 min

Exchanging persistent information with eBPF maps and helpers

Key value maps safely bridge kernel and user space while helper functions provide crucial utility capabilities.

#11 about 2 min

Improving composability using eBPF functions and tail calls

Chaining tail calls links multiple execution blocks together to context-switch through complex programmable routing paths.

#12 about 2 min

Practical use cases covering networking and performance profiling

Leveraging eBPF non-intrusively tracks processes, optimizes traffic drops, and enforces cloud native security policies.

#13 about 1 min

Comparing runtime libraries for C Go and Rust

High level bindings facilitate building loaders and logic for tools like Aya or BCC using popular programming languages.

#14 about 2 min

Solving cross kernel portability via BTF type definitions

CO-RE methodologies embed offset intelligence so single binaries run appropriately across diverse historical kernel versions.

#15 about 1 min

Evaluating appropriate use cases for eBPF offloading routines

Bypassing heavy CPU tasks ensures the system stays highly responsive while maximizing load balancing wins.

#16 about 3 min

Ecosystem of tooling and future capabilities of eBPF

Open source projects leverage kernel bypass routing to reduce sidecar application latency and dynamically apply remote security patches.

#17 about 2 min

Addressing execution priority overhead and bytecode security concerns

Handling overlapping kernel hook priorities natively comes with measured enterprise compute overhead around two percent.

Matching moments

52 sec

Introduction to eBPF as a secure virtual machine

Ayesha Kaleem · WWC 2023

2:04 min

Writing eBPF programs using BCC and bpftrace libraries

Ayesha Kaleem · WWC 2023

1:18 min

Architecture and execution lifecycle of eBPF programs

Ozan Sazak Ozan Sazak · WWC 2024

39 sec

Attaching eBPF programs to event-driven kernel hooks

Ayesha Kaleem · WWC 2023

2:27 min

Overview of eBPF and Edge Delta observability pipelines

Ozan Sazak Ozan Sazak · WWC 2024

2:08 min

Protecting hardware access controls using eBPF security hooks

Reinhard Reinhard · WWC 2024

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