Static eBPF Code Security Analyser: ELASTIC at IEEE CSR 2025
On 6 August 2025, Rosario Rizza from Politecnico di Torino (POLITO) presented the paper “Design and implementation of a tool to improve error reporting for eBPF code” at the IEEE Cyber Security and Resilience (CSR) Conference in Chania, Greece. This work introduced the Static eBPF Code Security Analyser, developed within the ELASTIC project, which enhances developer experience and security by making eBPF error diagnostics clearer and easier to use.
About the IEEE CSR 2025 Conference
The IEEE CSR Conference is a leading international event focused on security, privacy, trust, and resilience of digital systems. The 2025 edition, hosted in Crete, brought together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss novel approaches for mitigating advanced cyber threats and improving the resilience of modern infrastructures.
ELASTIC’s presence at this venue ensured that its results reached a global audience of cybersecurity experts, strengthening collaboration opportunities and increasing visibility of its innovations.
The Static eBPF Code Security Analyser
Extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) technology enables safe execution of sandboxed programs within the Linux kernel, supporting advanced observability and monitoring. However, developers often face challenges when interpreting the verifier’s complex error messages, which slows down development and increases risks of misconfigurations.
The Static eBPF Code Security Analyser directly addresses this issue. It performs static analysis that maps verifier errors back to the corresponding C source lines. This greatly improves readability, shortens debugging cycles, and helps identify vulnerabilities earlier in the development process. By simplifying the developer experience, the tool makes it easier to use eBPF securely and effectively in large-scale deployments.
Why It Matters
The impact of this work extends beyond technical improvements:
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Increased developer productivity – Simplified diagnostics reduce time spent on debugging.
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Early vulnerability detection – Static analysis ensures issues are addressed before deployment.
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Greater system resilience – Stronger eBPF security enhances the reliability of monitoring and observability across distributed systems.
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Contribution to ELASTIC’s vision – The analyser strengthens ELASTIC’s approach to real-time, elastic, and secure service orchestration in next-generation networks.
This tool is directly linked to the Monitoring & Detection block of ELASTIC’s architecture. By improving the clarity and usability of eBPF diagnostics, it advances the project’s aim of continuous threat detection and observability across cloud, fog, and edge environments.
It also complements other ELASTIC innovations, such as WebAssembly execution, trusted execution environments, and AI-driven intrusion detection. Together, these components support ELASTIC’s overall objectives of building a secure, flexible, and efficient foundation for 6G services.
Looking Ahead
The presentation at IEEE CSR 2025 highlights how ELASTIC’s research translates into practical tools that benefit both the developer community and the security ecosystem. Sharing this work at a global forum fosters collaboration with other initiatives and reinforces ELASTIC’s role in shaping secure and resilient digital infrastructures.
As the project progresses, the Static eBPF Code Security Analyser will continue to serve as a building block for safer development practices, contributing to the robustness of future cloud-edge-fog systems and the 6G landscape.