eBPF Safety & Trust
You're Right to Be Cautious
When evaluating kernel-level software, a healthy skepticism is appropriate. Any technology that operates at this level deserves thorough scrutiny. This page explains exactly why eBPF is designed to be safe and why enterprises trust it in production.
How eBPF Keeps Your Systems Safe
The Linux Kernel Verifier
The cornerstone of eBPF safety is the Linux kernel's built-in verifier. Before any eBPF program runs, the kernel performs static analysis to mathematically prove the program is safe:
What the verifier checks:
Bounded execution: Programs must terminate; infinite loops are rejected
Memory safety: All memory accesses must be within valid bounds
Type safety: Operations must use correct data types
No kernel modification: Programs cannot alter kernel code or data structures
Sandboxed Execution
eBPF programs run in a strictly controlled environment:
Isolated execution context: Cannot interfere with other programs or kernel operations
Limited helper functions: Can only call pre-approved kernel functions
Read-only after loading: Program code cannot be modified once loaded
Bounded stack size: Fixed 512-byte stack prevents overflow attacks
No arbitrary memory access: Can only access maps and approved memory regions
The Safer Alternative to Kernel Modules
Traditional kernel modules have full kernel access and have historically caused system crashes and outages. eBPF was designed specifically to avoid these risks:
Verification
None - full kernel access
Verified before execution
Crash potential
Can crash entire system
Cannot crash kernel
Memory access
Unrestricted
Strictly bounded
Kernel modification
Can modify kernel behavior
Read-only observation
Removal
May require reboot
Hot-swappable, instant removal
Debugging
Difficult, risky
Safe, observable
Enterprise Adoption
Who Trusts eBPF in Production?
eBPF is not experimental technology. It powers critical infrastructure at the world's largest organizations.
Financial Services:
Major financial institutions run eBPF across thousands of developers and millions of containers for container networking and security. The technology has been vetted by security teams at organizations with the strictest compliance requirements.
Cloud Providers:
All three major cloud providers have adopted eBPF-based networking as their default or recommended Container Network Interface (CNI):
Leading cloud Kubernetes services use eBPF-based CNI by default
eBPF powers network load balancing and security at global scale
The technology handles production traffic for some of the world's largest platforms
Infrastructure Leaders:
eBPF enables network observability and DDoS protection at major content delivery and streaming platforms, processing billions of requests daily.
Third-Party Validation
Independent Security Assessments
The eBPF ecosystem has undergone rigorous independent security review:
Verifier Security Audits: Independent security assessments have focused on the correctness and robustness of the eBPF verifier itself, finding no systemic weaknesses
Project Security Audits: Major eBPF-based projects have been audited by respected security firms, with findings noting well-secured implementations
Threat Model Documentation: The eBPF community has published comprehensive threat models documenting security considerations and mitigations
Your Data Never Leaves Your Environment
Beyond eBPF safety, Qpoint is designed with data sovereignty as a core principle:
Sensitive payloads stay local: HTTP bodies and headers are stored in YOUR S3-compatible storage (MinIO, AWS S3, GCS)
No "phone home": Qpoint never receives your sensitive traffic data
Air-gapped support: Full functionality without any internet connectivity
You hold the keys: We cannot access your data even if we wanted to
For detailed information on data handling and compliance, see Security & Compliance.
Common Questions
How does eBPF ensure it won't crash my systems?
The Linux kernel's built-in verifier mathematically proves that each eBPF program is safe before allowing it to run. Programs that could crash the kernel, access invalid memory, or loop infinitely are rejected outright. This verification happens at the kernel level and cannot be bypassed.
What if the eBPF program has a bug?
The verifier prevents bugs from causing system-level harm. Even if an eBPF program has a logic error, it cannot:
Crash the kernel
Access unauthorized memory
Corrupt system data
Interfere with other processes
The worst case is incorrect output, not system instability.
Could an attacker use this to escalate privileges?
eBPF requires root/CAP_BPF privileges to load programs. If an attacker already has root access, eBPF doesn't give them additional capabilities they don't already have. The verifier also prevents eBPF programs from being used to modify kernel behavior or escalate privileges further.
Will this degrade performance or stability?
Qtap operates out-of-band, observing traffic without being in the critical path:
No added latency: Traffic flows normally; Qtap observes copies
Minimal CPU overhead: eBPF is highly optimized, running in kernel space without context switches
No stability risk: Cannot crash or hang applications
Will Qtap conflict with other eBPF tools?
No. The Linux kernel is designed to support multiple eBPF programs simultaneously. Qtap can run alongside other eBPF-based tools for networking, security, and observability without conflicts.
Summary
Qtap uses eBPF to give you pre-encryption visibility without compromising safety. Our code is verified by the Linux kernel before it runs, sandboxed so it cannot crash your systems, and trusted by industry leaders who have already vetted this technology. Your data never leaves your environment.
Learn More
eBPF Concepts - Technical deep dive into how eBPF works
Security & Compliance - Data handling and compliance frameworks
How It Works - Qtap technical architecture
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