Abstract:
Unikernels allow application deployment through custom-built minimal virtual machines. The authors investigate how unikernels and their inherent minimalism benefit system security. The analysis starts with common security vulnerability classes and their possible remediation. A platonic unikernel framework is used to describe how unikernels can solve common security problems, focusing both on a micro- and macro level. This theoretical framework is matched against an existing unikernel framework, and the resulting mismatch is used as a starting point for the research areas the authors are currently working on. We demonstrate how using a single responsibility unikernel-based architectural framework could be used to reduce complexity and thus improve enterprise cloud security.