Understanding Fuchsia Security

Francesco Pagano, Luca Verderame, and Alessio Merlo⁺

DIBRIS, University of Genoa, Italy

{francesco.pagano, luca.verderame, alessio.merlo}@dibris.unige.it

Abstract

Fuchsia is a new open-source operating system that aims to support a wide range of devices - from embedded systems to personal computers - and is currently under active development. The core architectural principles guiding the design and development of the OS include high system modularity and a specific focus on security and privacy. This paper unveils the architecture and the software model of Fuchsia, with a specific focus on its core security mechanisms. Also, this work provides a discussion on the security posture of the OS by comparing its security features with those available in traditional, fully-fledged OSes and by identifying several research opportunities to enhance the security of the Fuchsia ecosystem.

Keywords: Fuchsia, OS Security, Operating System, Zircon.

+: Corresponding author: Alessio Merlo
Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics, and System Engineering, Viale Causa 13, 16145, Genoa, Italy,
Tel: +39-01033-52344, Web: https://www.dibris.unige.it/merlo-alessio

Journal of Wireless Mobile Networks, Ubiquitous Computing, and Dependable Applications (JoWUA), Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 47-64, Sept. 2021 [pdf]

Received: June 15, 2021; Accepted: August 31, 2021; Published: September 30, 2021

DOI: 10.22667/JOWUA.2021.09.30.047