Sandboxing Adoption in Open Source Ecosystems

Maysara Alhindi; Joseph Hallett

doi:10.1145/3643655.3643878

Sandboxing Adoption in Open Source Ecosystems

Maysara Alhindi^*
, Joseph Hallett^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Sandboxing mechanisms allow developers to limit how much access applications have to resources, following the least-privilege principle. However, it’s not clear how much and in what ways developers are using these mechanisms. This study looks at the use of Seccomp, Landlock, Capsicum, Pledge, and Unveil in all packages of four open-source operating systems. We found that less than 1% of packages directly use these mechanisms, but many more indirectly use them. Examining how developers apply these mechanisms reveals interesting usage patterns, such as cases where developers simplify their sandbox implementation. It also highlights challenges that may be hindering the widespread adoption of sandboxing mechanisms.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	SESoS '24
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	13-20
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400705571
ISBN (Print)	979840070557
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3643655.3643878
Publication status	Published - 6 Aug 2024
Event	SESoS - ICSE 2024: 12th ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems - Lisbon, Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal Duration: 14 Apr 2024 → 20 Apr 2024 Conference number: 12th https://conf.researchr.org/home/icse-2024/sesos-2024

Publication series

Name	ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems (SESoS)
Publisher	ACM
ISSN (Print)	2769-5824
ISSN (Electronic)	2769-5816

Workshop

Workshop	SESoS - ICSE 2024
Abbreviated title	SESoS
Country/Territory	Portugal
City	Lisbon
Period	14/04/24 → 20/04/24
Internet address	https://conf.researchr.org/home/icse-2024/sesos-2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).

Research Groups and Themes

Cyber Security

Keywords

Sandboxing
Operating systems
Security Mechanisms
Software Ecosystems
Sandbox
Security and human factors

Access to Document

10.1145/3643655.3643878Licence: CC BY

Handle.net

Persistent link

Striving for Developer-Centric Sandboxing: Exploring Adoption, Usability, and Threadbox Sandboxing
Alhindi, M. (Author), Hallett, J. (Supervisor) & Page, D. (Supervisor), 13 May 2025
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Cite this

Alhindi, M., & Hallett, J. (2024). Sandboxing Adoption in Open Source Ecosystems. In SESoS '24 : Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems (pp. 13-20). (ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems (SESoS)). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3643655.3643878

Alhindi, Maysara ; Hallett, Joseph. / Sandboxing Adoption in Open Source Ecosystems. SESoS '24 : Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems. Association for Computing Machinery, 2024. pp. 13-20 (ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems (SESoS)).

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abstract = "Sandboxing mechanisms allow developers to limit how much access applications have to resources, following the least-privilege principle. However, it{\textquoteright}s not clear how much and in what ways developers are using these mechanisms. This study looks at the use of Seccomp, Landlock, Capsicum, Pledge, and Unveil in all packages of four open-source operating systems. We found that less than 1\% of packages directly use these mechanisms, but many more indirectly use them. Examining how developers apply these mechanisms reveals interesting usage patterns, such as cases where developers simplify their sandbox implementation. It also highlights challenges that may be hindering the widespread adoption of sandboxing mechanisms. ",

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series = "ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems (SESoS)",

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Alhindi, M & Hallett, J 2024, Sandboxing Adoption in Open Source Ecosystems. in SESoS '24 : Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems. ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems (SESoS), Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 13-20, SESoS - ICSE 2024, Lisbon, Portugal, 14/04/24. https://doi.org/10.1145/3643655.3643878

Sandboxing Adoption in Open Source Ecosystems. / Alhindi, Maysara; Hallett, Joseph.
SESoS '24 : Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems. Association for Computing Machinery, 2024. p. 13-20 (ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems (SESoS)).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

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T1 - Sandboxing Adoption in Open Source Ecosystems

AU - Alhindi, Maysara

AU - Hallett, Joseph

N1 - Conference code: 12th

PY - 2024/8/6

Y1 - 2024/8/6

N2 - Sandboxing mechanisms allow developers to limit how much access applications have to resources, following the least-privilege principle. However, it’s not clear how much and in what ways developers are using these mechanisms. This study looks at the use of Seccomp, Landlock, Capsicum, Pledge, and Unveil in all packages of four open-source operating systems. We found that less than 1% of packages directly use these mechanisms, but many more indirectly use them. Examining how developers apply these mechanisms reveals interesting usage patterns, such as cases where developers simplify their sandbox implementation. It also highlights challenges that may be hindering the widespread adoption of sandboxing mechanisms.

AB - Sandboxing mechanisms allow developers to limit how much access applications have to resources, following the least-privilege principle. However, it’s not clear how much and in what ways developers are using these mechanisms. This study looks at the use of Seccomp, Landlock, Capsicum, Pledge, and Unveil in all packages of four open-source operating systems. We found that less than 1% of packages directly use these mechanisms, but many more indirectly use them. Examining how developers apply these mechanisms reveals interesting usage patterns, such as cases where developers simplify their sandbox implementation. It also highlights challenges that may be hindering the widespread adoption of sandboxing mechanisms.

KW - Sandboxing

KW - Operating systems

KW - Security Mechanisms

KW - Software Ecosystems

KW - Sandbox

KW - Security and human factors

U2 - 10.1145/3643655.3643878

DO - 10.1145/3643655.3643878

M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

SN - 979840070557

T3 - ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems (SESoS)

SP - 13

EP - 20

BT - SESoS '24

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

T2 - SESoS - ICSE 2024

Y2 - 14 April 2024 through 20 April 2024

ER -

Alhindi M, Hallett J. Sandboxing Adoption in Open Source Ecosystems. In SESoS '24 : Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems. Association for Computing Machinery. 2024. p. 13-20. (ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and Software Ecosystems (SESoS)). Epub 2024 Aug 6. doi: 10.1145/3643655.3643878

Sandboxing Adoption in Open Source Ecosystems

Abstract

Publication series

Workshop

Bibliographical note

Research Groups and Themes

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Fingerprint

Student theses

Striving for Developer-Centric Sandboxing: Exploring Adoption, Usability, and Threadbox Sandboxing

Cite this