Building a Lightning Fast Firewall with Java & eBPF by Mohammed Aboullaite, Johannes Bechberger

eBPF is buzzing all over the cloud native world, as the cutting-edge technology reshaping the way we understand performance, security, and observability within kernel space. Java, with its recent strides in modernization and optimization, from enhancing startup times to facilitating native execution and advancing machine learning applications, stands at the cusp of this transformative era.Join us in this journey, where we will embark on an ambitious challenge to write and build a high-throughput firewall leveraging the combined power of eBPF and Java. We'll start with a deep dive into eBPF's capabilities for kernel-level packet manipulation, then transition to how Java's latest advancements, particularly through Project Panama, enable seamless native code invocation and interoperability. Our focus will then converge to a hands-on demonstration of building a simple firewall using eBPF and Java, integrating kernel-level operations with high-level programming for real-time performance enhancements. Attendees will gain practical insights into deploying eBPF programs from Java using the hello-ebpf library, managing packet flows efficiently, and implementing firewall rules with precision, leveraging the strengths of both worlds.