Beyond isolation: OS verification as a foundation for correct applications

Abstract

Verified systems software has generally had to assume the correctness of the operating system and its provided services (like networking and the file system). Even though there exist verified operating systems and file systems, the specifications for these components do not compose with applications to produce a fully verified high-performance software stack. In this position paper, we lay out our vision for what it would look like to have a verified OS with verified applications, all with good multi-core performance. We've explored a part of the verification by proving a page table correct already, but the larger goal is to lay out a vision for an ambitious project that supports an application verified from its high-level specification down to the hardware.