Restrictingprocess

Restrictingprocess, often written as restricting process, refers to techniques for constraining what a running process may do in a computer system. The aim is to reduce risk from bugs, vulnerabilities, or untrusted code by enforcing least privilege, limiting resources, and isolating the process from sensitive system areas.

Common approaches include resource limits, capability-based security, and execution isolation. Unix-like systems use mechanisms such as ulimit or RLIMIT, and cgroups to cap resources and drop privileges. Seccomp filters restrict system calls. Windows relies on restricted tokens, Job Objects, and sandboxed runtimes. Security policies, profiles, and sandboxing frameworks enforce allowed actions and input/output.

Platform-specific mechanisms include Linux namespaces and cgroups for isolation, AppArmor and SELinux for access control, and container runtimes for encapsulation. Windows uses AppContainer and Windows Sandbox. macOS provides App Sandbox and Hardened Runtime. Android and iOS apply app sandboxing and explicit permission or entitlement models to limit access to data and hardware.

Use cases include securing servers by isolating services, limiting risk from untrusted software, and reducing data exposure on mobile devices. Containers and virtualization provide stronger isolation with overhead and management considerations, serving as a common means to implement restrictingprocess in practice.

Limitations include potential bypass if configurations are incorrect and reliance on kernel features that share resources across containers. Restrictions can incur performance costs and add maintenance burden. A defense-in-depth approach combines least privilege, explicit policies, regular auditing, and layered controls to effectively apply restrictingprocess.