Operating System Interprocess Message Security via Relativity Metrics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern operating systems face challenges in securely handling interprocess messages between proprietary and third-party applications, as they lack effective mechanisms to control message passing based on the privilege levels of associated processes, leading to potential security vulnerabilities.
Innovation Solution
The method involves associating applications with relativity metrics using cryptographic identifiers, where a message handling function within the operating system verifies these identifiers and determines whether to forward messages based on the relativity metrics of the origin and destination processes, ensuring secure message passing by restricting communication between processes of different privilege levels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the operating system allows free message passing between all processes, then interprocess communication efficiency is improved, but system security deteriorates due to lack of privilege level control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different privilege levels (relativity metrics) to different processes based on their origin (proprietary vs. third-party). The message handling function checks the privilege levels of source and destination processes, allowing messages only when the destination has equal or higher privilege. This creates localized security controls at each message passing point while maintaining overall system communication efficiency.
2Reliability
If the operating system implements strict privilege level control for message passing, then system security is improved, but communication flexibility deteriorates due to restricted message routing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by not requiring explicit permission for message passing, but rather blocking messages by default unless the destination process has equal or higher privilege level. This inversion simplifies the control mechanism while maintaining security, as the system automatically routes messages through privilege-level-gated paths without requiring complex policy configurations.
3Reliability
If the operating system verifies cryptographic identifiers for each message, then message authenticity is improved, but processing overhead increases due to verification operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by associating each process with its relativity metric (privilege level) in advance, before message passing occurs. The message handling function retrieves these pre-assigned metrics and performs simple comparisons, rather than performing complex cryptographic verification for each message. This preliminary association dramatically reduces per-message processing overhead while maintaining security through the privilege level checks.
Data Source
AI summary
As each application is loaded for use by an operating system, a message handling application within the operating system associates the applications with relativity metrics for later use in handling interprocess messages. A cryptographic identifier associated with each application is verified and, based on the verifying, each application is associated with a relativity metric. The message handling application receives a message from an origin process. The message handling application then determines a destination process for the message, a relativity metric for the origin process, and a relativity metric for the destination process. Based on an analysis of the relativity metrics of the origin process and the destination process, the message handling application determines whether to forward the message to the destination process.