Vasileios Kemerlis

Vasileios Kemerlis is a Professor of Computer Science at Brown University and Director of the Secure Systems Lab (SSL). His research focuses on OS, systems, and software security, with recent work on kernel hardening techniques using hardware features like ARM's memory tagging and pointer authentication.

Research interests include:

• Operating systems protection against memory-safety vulnerabilities
• Software supply chain security defenses
• Hardware-assisted isolation mechanisms
• eBPF subsystem security

Publications demonstrate consistent focus on practical kernel protection solutions, evolving from virtualization-based approaches to hardware-assisted mitigations. Recent works leverage ARM CPU features for efficient kernel isolation against heap-based attacks.

Awards include:

• Distinguished Paper Award at ACM ASIACCS 2023
• Distinguished Reviewer Award at ACM CCS 2024

Directs the Secure Systems Lab with PhD students working on kernel protection, speculative execution attacks, and software hardening. Lab regularly presents at top security conferences including IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, and ACM CCS.