David Weston, Microsoft’s Vice President responsible for Windows operating system security, shared insights on the development of Windows protection mechanisms in his report at the BlueHat IL 2023 conference. Among other things, he mentioned progress in utilizing the Rust language to enhance the security of the Windows kernel. Furthermore, it was stated that Rust code could be added to the Windows 11 kernel possibly within a few months or even weeks.
Key motivations for using Rust include leveraging tools for safe memory handling and working to reduce code errors. The initial goal is to replace some internal C++ data types with equivalent types provided in Rust. Currently, around 36,000 lines of Rust code have been prepared for inclusion in the kernel. Testing the system with the new code showed no negative impact on performance in the PCMark 10 suite (office applications test), and in some microbenchmarks, the new code even proved to be faster.
The first area where Rust has been implemented is in the DWriteCore code, which handles font parsing. Two developers were involved in the project, dedicating six months to the rewrite. The new implementation in Rust has improved glyph generation performance for text by 5-15%. The second application of Rust is in the implementation of the REGION data type in Win32k GDI (Graphics Driver Interface). The Rust-rewritten GDI interface components have successfully passed all tests for use in Windows, and the new code is expected to be included by default in the upcoming Windows 11 Insider test builds. Other achievements related to Rust include the translation of specific Windows system calls to this language.
Source: opennet.ru
