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Hakoniwa: How Linux Process Isolation Works

Hakoniwa is a Linux process-isolation project with a CLI and Rust library. Its documented controls include namespaces, a new filesystem root, network isolation, resource limits, Landlock and seccomp.
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Hakoniwa is a Linux project with a command-line interface and a Rust library for creating an isolated environment around a process. Its documentation describes a layered setup using Linux namespaces, a constructed filesystem root, networking isolation, resource controls, Landlock and seccomp. Those mechanisms can restrict a process, but Hakoniwa warns that sandboxing does not make running untrusted code safe.

What Hakoniwa does

Hakoniwa brings several Linux security facilities together to run a process in an environment separated from the host in specified ways. The project documents both a CLI and a Rust Container API. The Rust API is described as creating namespaces, building a root filesystem and constructing a command to execute. Hakoniwa project repository and Hakoniwa crate documentation.

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This is the project’s description of its design and intended uses, not an independent security audit or an escape-resistance test.

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Which Linux controls it combines

The README describes an empty mount namespace whose root is placed on a temporary directory. That temporary environment is automatically cleaned up when its last process exits. Hakoniwa lists these controls as parts of the isolation design:

  • Namespaces: Linux namespaces isolate process-level views of system resources. Hakoniwa uses a mount namespace and pivot_root to establish a new filesystem root.
  • Networking: a network namespace is paired with pasta for user-mode networking.
  • Resource limits: setrlimit and cgroup v2, managed through systemd, are listed for limiting resource use.
  • Filesystem rights: Landlock is used to restrict ambient rights, including global filesystem access.
  • System calls: seccomp restricts which system calls a process may make.

These controls address different kinds of access. A new filesystem root does not, by itself, describe every permitted file operation; syscall restrictions do not replace resource limits; and network isolation is a separate concern. The project describes them as a combined environment rather than claiming that any one facility provides complete protection.

What the project says it is for

The README gives examples of uses, including compiling source code in a restricted sandbox, such as with makepkg, and running a browser or proprietary application such as Firefox in an isolated environment. It also describes entering a root filesystem with chroot, installing GUI applications and launching them, and mentions profiles for desktop applications. These are project-stated use cases, not independently tested recommendations. Hakoniwa project repository.

What isolation does not guarantee

Hakoniwa’s warning is explicit: “Running untrusted code is never safe, sandboxing cannot change this.” Isolation can limit some interactions with the host, but the project’s warning means readers should not treat a Hakoniwa environment as a guarantee against malicious behavior or a substitute for a threat model. The available project descriptions do not establish measured escape resistance.

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CLI and library licenses

The README identifies separate licenses: the CLI is GPL-3.0-only, while the library is LGPL-3.0-only WITH LGPL-3.0-linking-exception. Anyone planning to redistribute the CLI or link or redistribute the library should review the applicable license text and seek legal advice for their situation; these license labels alone are not a legal conclusion. Hakoniwa project repository.

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