OS//kernel space

Kernel space is the protected region of RAM reserved for the OS kernel, device drivers and interrupt handlers. It has full hardware access, including MMIO registers and DMA descriptors, and a fault there crashes the entire system.

Kernel space is the protected region of RAM reserved for the OS kernel, device drivers and interrupt handlers. It has full hardware access, including MMIO registers and DMA descriptors, and a fault there crashes the entire system.

User programs cannot access kernel memory directly; they cross the boundary through a syscall.