3 ms·

You're ignoring all the user space libraries that the browser uses and a kernel does not. Heck, glibc alone is over 2 million lines of code.

• notacoward 12y ago
  To most programmers, libc is indistinguishable from the kernel. Do you actively distinguish between sections 2 and 3 of the manual, or know which calls in section 2 are actually just libc wrappers for kernel functions that do something slightly different? Libc would more reasonably be considered part of the OS than part of the browser.
  • cbsmith 12y ago
    You might consider it part of the OS, but it isn't part of the kernel. For purposes of understanding whether the kernel is "bigger" attack surface than a "browser", you can't ignore the runtime.
    • notacoward 12y ago
      Well, then this discussion could have been really short, because of course the browser relies on the kernel so the kernel is part of the browser's attack surface. :rolleyes:
      • cbsmith 12y ago
        That's quite different. The kernel has security responsibilities that are independent of userspace, and vice-versa. It's not like the browser gets loaded in to kernel space.