Unikernel Papers

This repository is a list of all systems papers regarding the topic of unikernels. Feel free to contribute with a pull request!

Papers

2025

• μFork: Supporting POSIX fork Within a Single-Address-Space OS, SOSP'25
• UniContainer: Unlocking the Potential of Unikernel for Secure and Efficient Containerization, SIGMETRICS'25

2024

• Loupe: Driving the Development of OS Compatibility Layers, ASPLOS'24
• Reboot-based Recovery of Unikernels at the Component Level, DSN'24
• Cloud-Native Database Systems and Unikernels: Reimagining OS Abstractions for Modern Hardware, VLDB'24
• SURE: Secure Unikernels Make Serverless Computing Rapid and Efficient, SOCC'24

2023

• GPU Acceleration in Unikernels Using Cricket GPU Virtualization, SC-W 2023
• Nephele: Extending Virtualization Environments for Cloning Unikernel-based VMs, EuroSys'23
• Unikernel Linux (UKL), EuroSys'23 (UKL)
• Software Compartmentalization Trade-Offs with Hardware Capabilities, PLOS'23 (FlexOS)
• Assessing Scalability and Performance Isolation of Lightweight Virtualization Systems (BSc project report)
• Exploring Unikernels for Serverless Computing (BSc project report)

2022

• KASLR in the age of MicroVMs, EuroSys'22
• Kite: Lightweight Critical Service Domains, EuroSys'22
• FlexOS: Towards Flexible OS Isolation, ASPLOS'22 (FlexOS)
• Want More Unikernels? Inflate Them!, SoCC'22
• Analyzing Unikernel Support for HPC: Experimental Study of OpenMP, ISC High Performance'22 International Workshops

2021

• Unikraft: fast, specialized unikernels the easy way EuroSys'21 (Unikraft)
• Wayfinder: towards automatically deriving optimal OS configurations APSys'21 (Unikraft)
• FlexOS: Making OS Isolation Flexible, HotOS'21
• KylinX: Simplified Virtualization Architecture for Specialized Virtual Appliances with Strong Isolation, ACM TOCS 2021
• CubicleOS: A Library OS with Software Componentisation for Practical Isolation ASPLOS'21
• Binary-Compatibility with Linux Application for a Unikernel Written in Rust (1) (BSc project report)
• Binary-Compatibility with Linux Application for a Unikernel Written in Rust (2) (BSc project report)
• Applying OS Fuzzing Techniques to Unikernels, (BSc project report)
• Evaluating unikernels for HPC applications (MS thesis)

2020

• Towards Highly Specialized, POSIX-compliant Software Stacks with Unikraft: Work-in-Progress EMSOFT'20 (Unikraft)
• Intra-Unikernel Isolation with Intel Memory Protection Keys, VEE'20 (HermitCore)
• A Linux in Unikernel Clothing Eurosys'20 (Lupine)
• A security perspective on Unikernels, IEEE Cyber Security 2020
• Iso-UniK: lightweight multi-process unikernel through memory protection keys Springer Cybersecurity 2020
• SEUSS: skip redundant paths to make serverless fast Eurosys'20
• The Serverkernel Operating System EdgeSys'20
• The Case for Intra-Unikernel Isolation, SPMA'20
• RustyHermit: A Scalable, Rust-Based Virtual Execution Environment, ISC High Performance 2020 (RustyHermit)

2019

• A Binary-Compatible Unikernel, VEE'19 (HermiTux)
• Unikernels: The Next Stage of Linux's Dominance, HotOS'19
• Exploring Rust for Unikernel Development, PLOS'19 (RustyHermit)

2018

• Android Unikernel: Gearing mobile code offloading towards edge computing, FGCS 2018
• Consolidate IoT Edge Computing with Lightweight Virtualization IEEE Network 2018
• Uniguard: Protecting Unikernel using Intel SGX, IEEE IC2E 2018
• Elastic Content Distribution Based on Unikernels and Change-Point Analysis Europeean Wireless 2018
• Blip: JIT and Footloose On The Edge, arXiv 2018
• Unikernel-based Approach for Software-Defined Security in Cloud Infrastructures IEEE NOMS 2018
• KylinX: A Dynamic Library Operating System for Simplified and Efficient Cloud Virtualization ATC'18
• Unikernels as Processes, SOCC'18
• USETL: Unikernels for Serverless Extract Transform and Load Why should you settle for less?, APSys'18
• An architecture for interspatial communication, INFOCOM'18
• Using Unikernels to Address the Cloud Forensic Problem and help Achieve EU GDPR Compliance, Cloud Computing Conference 2018
• A Comparison of Virtualization Technologies for Use in Cloud Data Centers (technical report)
• Optimizing Boot Times and Enhancing Binary Compatibility for Unikernels (MS thesis)

2017

• My VM is Lighter (and Safer) than your Container, SOSP17
• Unikernels Everywhere: The Case for Elastic CDNs, VEE17
• Enabling Fine-Grained Edge Offloading for IoT, SIGCOMM17 (Poster)
• FADES: Fine-Grained Edge Offloading with Unikernels, HotConNet17
• Making the Case for Highly Efficient Multicore Enabled Unikernels With IncludeOS, CLOUD COMPUTING 17
• A Performance Survey of Lightweight Virtualization Techniques, Springer LNCS17
• NFaaS: Named Function as a Service, ICN17
• uniprof: A Unikernel Stack Profiler, SIGCOMM17 (poster)
• The serverless trilemma: function composition for serverless computing Onward! 2017
• EdgeCourier: An Edge-hosted Personal Service for Low-bandwidth Document Synchronization in Mobile Cloud Storage Services SEC'17
• Communication, Compute and Caching (3C) at the edge: The cornerstone for building a versatile 5G ecosystem IEEE Communications Magazine 2017
• An Architecture for Reliable Industry 4.0 Appliances, ATINER's Conference Paper Series 2-17
• Running Multi-Process Applications on Unikernel-based VMs SOSP17 Poster (Poster)
• Enhancing Cloud Security and Privacy: The Unikernel Solution Cloud Computing 2017
• PHP2Uni: Building Unikernels Using Scripting Language Transpilation, IC2E'17
• A Low Noise Unikernel for Extrem-Scale Systems ARCS'17 (HermitCore)
• A model for increasing the performance of an automated testing pipeline (MS thesis)
• Live Updating in Unikernels (MS thesis)

2016

• HermitCore: A Unikernel for Extreme Scale Computing, ROSS16
• On the Fly TCP Acceleration with Miniproxy, HotMiddleBox16
• Enterprise IoT security and scalability: how unikernels can improve the status Quo, UUC16
• Time provisioning Evaluation of KVM, Docker and Unikernels in a Cloud Platform CCGRID'16

2015

• Jitsu: Just-In-Time Summoning of Unikernels, NSDI 2015 (MirageOS)
• IncludeOS: A minimal, resource efficient unikernel for cloud services, (CloudCom15)
• The Case for the Superfluid Cloud, HotCloud15

2014

• Unikernels: Rise of the Virtual Library Operating System, ACM Queue 2014 (MirageOS)
• Rump Kernels: No OS? No Problem!, ;login14 (Rump)
• Cooperation and Security Isolation of Library OSes for Multi-Process Applications EuroSys 2014 (Graphene)
• OSv—Optimizing the Operating System for Virtual Machines, ATC'14
• ClickOS and the art of network function virtualization NSDI'14

2013

• Unikernels: Library Operating Systems for the Cloud, ASPLOS13 (MirageOS)

2011

• Rethinking the Library OS from the Top Down, ASPLOS11 (Drawbridge)

Misc.

• Some general info about unikernels: this website, in particular have a look at the "Project" tab: http://unikernel.org/
• Not a paper, but interesting: https://www.sigarch.org/leave-your-os-at-home-the-rise-of-library-operating-systems/
• Profiling unikernels: http://www.brendangregg.com/blog/2016-01-27/unikernel-profiling-from-dom0.html
  • There is also the X-ray profiler used in HermitCore: https://github.com/RWTH-OS/HermitCore/tree/master/usr/xray