Linux kernel patch proposes per-function "killswitch" for runtime short-circuit mitigation
By
signa11
Fresh out the oven, still warm. Top of the tray.
Summary
A Linux kernel patch proposal by Sasha Levin introduces a "killswitch" mechanism — a per-function short-circuit mitigation primitive designed to allow developers to quickly disable specific kernel functions at runtime when bugs or security issues are discovered, without requiring a full kernel rebuild or reboot. The patch adds infrastructure for marking functions with killswitch points that can be toggled via sysfs, providing a lightweight, surgical response to critical function-level failures in production environments.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledFrom: Sasha Levin <sashal-AT-kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH] killswitch: add per-function short-circuit mitigation primitive
Date: Thu, 07 May 2026 03:05:45 -0400
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Article URL: https://lwn.net/ml/all/[email protected]/
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48073394
Points: 6
# Comments: 0
You might also wanna read
Four stable Linux kernels released with partial fixes for Dirty Frag and Copy Fail 2 vulnerabilities
Greg Kroah-Hartman has released four stable Linux kernels (7.0.5, 6.18.28, 6.12.87, and 6.6.138) containing partial fixes for the Dirty Frag
lwn.net·23d ago
Linux Kernel Self-Protection Project: Addressing Security Challenges with Flexible Array Members and struct sockaddr
The article discusses the Linux Kernel Self-Protection Project (KSPP) and its work on improving kernel security, particularly focusing on bo
lwn.net·5mo ago
Restartable Sequences: A Linux Kernel Feature for Lock-Free Thread-Safe Programming
This article explores restartable sequences (rseq), a Linux kernel feature introduced in version 4.18 (circa 2018) that enables creation of
justine.lol·7h ago
wolfCOSE: A Lightweight COSE + CBOR Library for Embedded Systems with PQC and FIPS 140-3 Support
wolfCOSE is a lightweight C library implementing CBOR (RFC 8949) and COSE (RFC 9052/9053) for embedded systems, using wolfSSL as the crypto
github.com·1d ago
Anthropic launches Claude Security beta for codebase vulnerability scanning
Anthropic has released Claude Security, a defensive security tool within Claude Code on the web, from closed preview to beta for Claude Ente
thenewstack.io·1d ago
How LinkedIn's 2012 Breach Exposed the Dangers of Unsalted Password Hashes
This article examines the 2012 LinkedIn breach where attackers cracked millions of passwords using fast, unsalted hashes like MD5 and SHA-1.
hendryadrian.com·1d ago