I am not satisfied with Linux’s security and have been researching alternative open source OS for privacy and security So far only thing that’s ready to use is GrapheneOS (Based on Android) but that’s not available on desktop (Though when Android release Desktop mode it may become viable)

Qubes OS is wrapper around underlying operating systems, so it doesn’t really fix for example Linux’s security holes it just kinda sandbox/virtualize them

OpenBSD is more secure than Linux on a base level but lack mitigations and patches that are added to linux overtime and it’s security practices while good for it’s time is outdated now

RedoxOS (Written in Rust) got some nice ideas but sticks to same outdated practices and doesn’t break the wheel too much, and security doesn’t seems to be main focus of OS

Haiku and Serenity are outright worse than Linux, especially Haiku as it’s single user only

Serenity adopted Pledge and Unveil from OpenBSD but otherwise lacks basic security features

All new security paradigms seems to be happening in microkernels and these are the ones that caught my eyes

None of these are ready to be used as daily driver OS but in future (hopefully) it may change

Genode seems to be far ahead of game than everything else

Ironclad Written in ADA

Atmosphere And Mesosphere Open Source Re-implementation of Nintendo Switch’s Horizon OS, I didn’t expected this to be security-oriented but seems like Nintendo has done a very solid job

Then there are Managarm, HelenOS, Theseus but I couldn’t figure out how secure they are

Finally there is Kicksecure from creators of Whonix, Kicksecure is a linux distro that plans to fix Linux’s security problems

if you know of any other OS please share it here

  • SecuMiKern@sh.itjust.worksOP
    612·
    5 months ago

    Server security is not completely same as desktop one, Linux kernel is spaghetti code with very large attack surface, only reason it’s not exploited more is Linux Desktop is not as lucrative target as Windows, Proper sandboxing doesn’t exist and is half assed, Qubes is the only one properly doing sandboxing on Linux

    OpenBSD and Qubes seems best solution so far but neither are ideal

    Qubes doesn’t address Linux’s security problems it just sandbox/virtualize them and it requires beefy hardware

    Fedora Silver Blue doesn’t do anything special really it’s your normal linux distro just immutable and relies on flatpaks (On another note Flatpaks sandbox are easy to break and most programs don’t use it properly)

    • taladar@sh.itjust.works
      81·
      5 months ago

      only reason it’s not exploited more is Linux Desktop is not as lucrative target as Windows

      It would be much more lucrative to exploit the Linux servers, Android (based on Linux) phones, embedded Linux devices,… than that tiny niche of Windows desktops could ever be.

      • SecuMiKern@sh.itjust.worksOP
        48·
        5 months ago

        Linux servers exploit is different than Linux desktop exploit and 1000% different than exploiting Android

        It’s general misconception that Android is just Linux but it’s not, it’s like saying Linux is just GCC compiler

      • SecuMiKern@sh.itjust.worksOP
        2·
        5 months ago

        I am not native English speaker so sorry for misunderstandment

        I didn’t say it’s overall better

        I said even though on base level OpenBSD is much more clean and secure than Linux it lacks or lags behind Linux in adding mitigations for security vulnerabilities

        And there are far less eyes on OpenBSD so many vulnerabilities don’t get discovered in first place

        Any software can be malicious even essential ones just look at recent Xz vulnerability (And it was discovered by sheer chance), OS should have systems in place like proper sandboxing, permissions (Not half baked one like flatpak) …