Zero-Copy Messaging: Low-Latency Inter-Task Communication in CHERI-Enabled RTOS

Mina Soltani Siapoush and Jim Alves-Foss ()
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Mina Soltani Siapoush: Center for Secure and Dependable Systems (CSDS), University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA
Jim Alves-Foss: Center for Secure and Dependable Systems (CSDS), University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA

Future Internet, 2025, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: Efficient and secure inter-task communication (ITC) is critical in real-time embedded systems, particularly in security-sensitive architectures. Traditional ITC mechanisms in Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOSs) often incur high latency from kernel trapping, context-switch overhead, and multiple data copies during message passing. This paper introduces a zero-copy, capability-protected ITC framework for CHERI-enabled RTOS environments that achieves both high performance and strong compartmental isolation. The approach integrates mutexes and semaphores encapsulated as sealed capabilities, a shared memory ring buffer for messaging, and compartment-local stubs to eliminate redundant data copies and reduce cross-compartment transitions. Temporal safety is ensured through hardware-backed capability expiration, mitigating use-after-free vulnerabilities. Implemented as a reference application on the CHERIoT RTOS, the framework delivers up to 3× lower mutex lock latency and over 70% faster message transfers compared to baseline FreeRTOS, while preserving deterministic real-time behavior. Security evaluation confirms resilience against unauthorized access, capability leakage, and TOCTTO vulnerabilities. These results demonstrate that capability-based zero-copy ITC can be a practical and performance-optimal solution for constrained embedded systems that demand high throughput, low latency, and verifiable isolation guarantees.

Keywords: real-time operating systems (RTOSs); FreeRTOS; capability hardware-enhanced RISC instructions (CHERI); inter-task communication (ITC); zero-copy; synchronization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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