Kernel Level Drivers

Use of Kernel Level Drivers as a mandatory component of userspace software, such as for cybersecurity or Kernel Level Anti-Cheats, is a process in which software companies will release proprietary drivers to be installed to the end user's kernel along with a piece of software, and in many cases will not allow that software to function without them.

How it works

Kernel drivers allow the computer to communicate with devices such as keyboards, mice, storage, network cards, and more. Such communication requires kernel level access to the operating system as these drivers each manage hyper specific hardware. However in order to gain this privileged access to end user machines, companies have begun writing drivers as a component of their userspace software and in some cases requiring it to load on boot.

Why it is a problem

Kernel access allows full system monitoring, which creates numerous privacy concerns.

Further, allowing third parties to define unnecessary drivers creates further points of failure that could end up bricking the operating system.

Examples

The 2024 Crowdstrike outage shows the potential consequences of allowing third party kernel-level access.