In-kernel defence for validators
Working name · IBSR + Mesh + Guard

A firewall that earns the right to act.

Observe. Authorise. Enforce.

IBSR watches your validator's traffic and judges it. Mesh weighs that judgment across the cohort and issues bounded authority. Guard enforces in the kernel. A probe seen by one validator becomes protection for the whole cohort in 312 milliseconds.

Enforcement
4.0µs · in-kernel
Propagation
312ms · cohort-wide
Failure mode
fail-open
Licensing
open source / open core
Fig · Authority pipeline · LiveObserve → Authorise → Enforce
Fig.2 · Authority pipelineDetect → Judge → Authorise → Act
Detect
packet · eBPF tap
0µs
Judge
IBSR · shadow
+0.9µs
Authorise
Mesh · scoped
+312ms
Act
Guard · xdp.drop
4.0µs
[00] · What it is

Three layers. One earned authority.

This is not a static ruleset. IBSR observes your validator's own traffic and judges it against a behavioural baseline. Mesh weighs those judgments across the cohort and issues authority scoped to an abuse class and revocable. Guard acts on that authority in the kernel. Nothing enforces until the evidence has earned it. If any layer goes down, traffic flows.

The authority model is the Earned Autonomy framework (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18406828), applied at the network boundary.

Layer 01 · Observe + judge · Open source

IBSR.

Observes, learns, judges. The judgment layer for in-kernel defence.

Mode
shadow / passive
Baseline
7d sliding
Output
counterfactual
License
Apache-2.0

Watches your traffic. Reports what it would have blocked.

Fig · IBSR · LiveObserve · Judge
Telemetry · cohort.v1 · Live14:02:11
14:02:11.788guardauthauthority.scope=recon.* · cohort=42 · revocable
14:02:11.812guardactxdp.drop · 4.2µs · src=193.41.x.x
14:02:11.901meshsyncpropagate · cohort=42 · 1,184 nodes · 312ms
14:02:12.014ibsrobscounterfactual: would.have.blocked=true · evidence…
14:02:12.118meshinfocorpus.bundle.21091 · primitive=p2p.eclipse
14:02:12.220guardactxdp.drop · 3.8µs · pattern=ddos.amplify.ntp
14:02:12.301ibsrjudgeclass:dos.volumetric · conf=0.99 · enforce
14:02:12.412meshinfocohort.health · 98.7% · degraded=2
14:02:11.443meshinfoconsensus.attest · 248 validators · quorum 99.2%
14:02:11.501ibsrobsbaseline drift 0.4σ · cohort.eu-west
14:02:11.612meshwarnprobe: discovery.scan.tcp · src=193.41.x.x ttl=64
14:02:11.701ibsrjudgeclass:recon.fingerprint · conf=0.94 · shadow

IBSR runs on operator infrastructure at kernel-level resolution. It builds a behavioural baseline of your traffic, identifies anomalies against it, and reports to Mesh what it would have blocked and why. It never acts. Enforcement is Guard's job, on the authority Mesh has earned.

What you get
01
Real traffic, not synthetic data.

Behavioural baselines built on your actual network, not vendor lab conditions or sample datasets.

02
Counterfactual rehearsal.

See exactly what would have been blocked before anything is. Earn the authority on evidence, then grant it.

03
Open source.

Inspect the code. Run it air-gapped. Audit every decision. No black-box vendor inference on your traffic.

Deploy · Three steps
01
Install

Drop the IBSR binary onto the validator host. No sidecar daemons, no kernel module beyond what Linux already gives you.

02
Observe

IBSR baselines your traffic in shadow mode. No enforcement, no risk. Nothing leaves the box without operator sign-off.

03
Review

Read the counterfactual record. When the evidence supports action, grant Mesh authority for specific, bounded abuse classes.

IBSR · DemoPreview
$ curl -fsSL nullrabbit.ai/ibsr | sh
$ ibsr observe --shadow
▸ baseline · 7d · learning
▸ counterfactual · 847 would-block
$ ibsr evidence --tail
▸ shadow.log · awaiting sign-off
Demo · IBSR is not yet in production. The commands above illustrate the intended workflow.
Layer 02 · Shared intelligence · Open core

Mesh.

One brain. Many nodes. The cohort intelligence that earns the authority to act.

Scope
cohort-wide
Propagation
312ms median
Authority
scoped / revocable
Model
open core

Learns from every validator. Authorises with evidence.

Fig · Mesh · LiveAuthorise
Fig.2 · Cohort propagationProbe @ node 0481 · Reached 1,184 nodes · 312ms
one validator probed → every validator protected

Mesh is the intelligence above every IBSR node. It takes judgments from across the cohort, weighs them by evidence, drift and consensus, and issues authority that is scoped and revocable. One judgment, weighed by the cohort, reaches every node in 312ms.

What you get
01
Every sensor strengthens every defender.

One validator's judgment becomes the cohort's protection. Intelligence compounds with every node.

02
Authority, earned not asserted.

Mesh grants Guard authority only when cohort evidence supports it. Scoped per abuse class, logged, revocable.

03
Open core.

The protocol and the way authority is computed and propagated are open. Inspect exactly what runs.

Deploy · Three steps
01
Connect

Point your IBSR and Guard nodes at a Mesh tenant. Join the founding cohort or run your own.

02
Aggregate

Mesh weighs judgments across the cohort, not by any single node.

03
Authorise

Mesh issues scoped authority to Guard, per abuse class. One judgment authorises the whole cohort.

Mesh · DemoPreview
$ mesh join --cohort v1.0
▸ peers · 1,184 nodes · 17 cohorts
$ mesh policy --show
▸ recon.* · authorised · ev≥0.92
$ mesh propagate --dry-run
▸ 312ms · cohort-wide
Demo · MESH is not yet in production. The commands above illustrate the intended workflow.
Layer 03 · Enforcement · Open source

Guard.

Kernel-speed action, only when the authority has been earned.

Tap
XDP / eBPF
Latency
4.0µs median
Mode
fail-open
License
Apache-2.0

Acts on instructions from Mesh, at kernel speed.

Fig · Guard · LiveEnforce
Fig.2 · Authority pipelineDetect → Judge → Authorise → Act
Detect
packet · eBPF tap
0µs
Judge
IBSR · shadow
+0.9µs
Authorise
Mesh · scoped
+312ms
Act
Guard · xdp.drop
4.0µs
evidence accrues in shadow · authority is scoped & revocable · enforcement is kernel-speed

Guard performs XDP/eBPF packet blocking in the kernel, on operator infrastructure. It acts only on instructions from Mesh, scoped to the abuse classes the operator has authorised. Microsecond decision-to-action. Fail-open by architecture: if Guard or Mesh go down, traffic flows.

What you get
01
Machine-speed enforcement.

XDP/eBPF in the kernel. Microseconds, not milliseconds. Decision-to-action faster than the attack can pivot.

02
Authority is bounded.

Guard acts only on judgments Mesh has earned the right to make. Per abuse class, revocable, audited.

03
Drop-in compatible.

Run alongside your existing firewall, or replace it. Open source: inspect, fork, deploy. No vendor lock-in.

Deploy · Three steps
01
Install

Drop Guard onto the validator host. XDP attaches to the NIC. No reboot, no kernel patching beyond what your distribution already supports.

02
Authorise

Connect Guard to your Mesh tenant. Authority is granted per abuse class. Start narrow, expand as evidence supports.

03
Run

Mesh issues enforcement instructions. Guard executes in the kernel. Every action is logged with full context, revocable at any time.

Security software does not cause downtime.

Guard · DemoPreview
$ curl -fsSL nullrabbit.ai/guard | sh
$ guard attach --nic eth0
▸ xdp · attached · 0 reboot
$ guard connect --mesh cohort.v1
▸ authority · recon.* · scoped
$ guard status
▸ acting · 4.0µs · fail-open
Demo · GUARD is not yet in production. The commands above illustrate the intended workflow.
[04] · How they work together

The attacker's first move against one operator is the last free move against any of them.

IBSR on one validator judges a probe as reconnaissance. Mesh weighs that judgment against the cohort and, where the operator has authorised it, issues Guard a scoped instruction. Guard drops the traffic at kernel speed, and the same protection reaches every node at once. Authority stays bounded and revocable, and the system is fail-open, so defence never becomes the cause of downtime.

Fig · Cohort propagation · Live312ms · Cohort-wide
Fig.2 · Cohort propagationProbe @ node 0535 · Reached 1,184 nodes · 312ms
one validator probed → every validator protected

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