Kernel extensions are seeing a renewed interest in the research community with the advent of eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter). eBPF has been gaining popularity in industry for its safety and efficiency in programming end-host network and OS stacks. Several companies have adopted it for use in production-grade applications, including high-performance networking, security monitoring and enforcement, profiling, and CPU scheduling.

Despite the widespread adoption of these kernel extensions, many challenges remain. The static analysis of extensions is growing increasingly complex, yet it continues to suffer from a high rate of false positives, hindering development. Programming hooks and interfaces with the kernel restrict the versatility of extensions. The performance overhead of extensions can also limit high-throughput use cases.

The workshop will bring together a diverse and interdisciplinary audience, including researchers in operating systems, programming languages, computer security, as well as experts in networking, formal specification, and verification. It will be a venue to learn, network, and exchange ideas with others in the community, advancing the state-of-the-art in this exciting and rapidly evolving technology.