eBPF Security
What is eBPF Security?
eBPF SecurityThe use of extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) programs running in the Linux kernel to provide deep observability and policy enforcement for processes, networking, and syscalls.
eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) is a Linux kernel technology that lets verified, sandboxed bytecode programs run safely inside the kernel at thousands of hook points — kprobes, tracepoints, XDP, tc, sockets, LSM hooks. For security, eBPF is the foundation of modern observability and enforcement tools: Falco, Tetragon (Cilium project), Tracee (Aqua Security), Kubescape, Sysdig, Datadog Cloud Workload Security, and Cilium itself for L3/L4/L7 network policy. Because eBPF programs see syscalls and packets at line rate without kernel modules, they enable container runtime detection, drift analysis, eBPF-based EDR, and DDoS mitigation. The eBPF Foundation, under the Linux Foundation, governs the ecosystem.
● Examples
- 01
Using Cilium Tetragon to kill a process the moment it executes a sensitive syscall sequence (execve of /bin/sh inside a container).
- 02
Enforcing identity-aware L7 HTTP policies between Kubernetes pods with Cilium without sidecars.
● Frequently asked questions
What is eBPF Security?
The use of extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) programs running in the Linux kernel to provide deep observability and policy enforcement for processes, networking, and syscalls. It belongs to the Defense & Operations category of cybersecurity.
What does eBPF Security mean?
The use of extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) programs running in the Linux kernel to provide deep observability and policy enforcement for processes, networking, and syscalls.
How does eBPF Security work?
eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) is a Linux kernel technology that lets verified, sandboxed bytecode programs run safely inside the kernel at thousands of hook points — kprobes, tracepoints, XDP, tc, sockets, LSM hooks. For security, eBPF is the foundation of modern observability and enforcement tools: Falco, Tetragon (Cilium project), Tracee (Aqua Security), Kubescape, Sysdig, Datadog Cloud Workload Security, and Cilium itself for L3/L4/L7 network policy. Because eBPF programs see syscalls and packets at line rate without kernel modules, they enable container runtime detection, drift analysis, eBPF-based EDR, and DDoS mitigation. The eBPF Foundation, under the Linux Foundation, governs the ecosystem.
How do you defend against eBPF Security?
Defences for eBPF Security typically combine technical controls and operational practices, as detailed in the full definition above.
What are other names for eBPF Security?
Common alternative names include: eBPF runtime security, kernel observability.
● Related terms
- defense-ops№ 403
Falco
An open-source cloud-native runtime security engine that detects abnormal container, host, and Kubernetes behavior by streaming syscalls and audit events through a rules engine.
- identity-access№ 120
BPF LSM
A Linux Security Module that lets verified eBPF programs attach to LSM hooks and enforce custom Mandatory Access Control decisions on syscalls, files, sockets, and capabilities.
- identity-access№ 585
Kernel Mode vs User Mode
The two CPU privilege levels enforced by modern operating systems — kernel mode (supervisor, ring 0) with full hardware access and user mode (ring 3) restricted to its own address space and limited instructions.
- identity-access№ 615
Linux Capabilities
A Linux kernel feature defined by POSIX.1e draft that splits the all-powerful root privilege into 40-plus discrete capabilities granted independently to processes and files.
- cloud-security№ 600
Kubernetes Security
The protection of a Kubernetes cluster — its API server, control plane, nodes, workloads, and network — from misconfiguration, compromise, and lateral movement.