MesaLink v1.0.0 Released, Production Ready with 10 Million Monthly Users
MesaLink is the next-gen Transport Layer Security (TLS) library developed by Baidu Security X-Lab. Since its first public version v0.6.0 came out in April 2018, MesaLink has released 7 versions and it has been massively deployed in production environments including Android-based set-top boxes, smart speakers and automobile systems. By the end of 2018, the number of monthly active users had surpassed 10 million. At the one-year anniversary of MesaLink, we are releasing v1.0.0. This marks the milestone that MesaLink has been through tough real-world tests and proven reliable in production environments. We believe that MesaLink provides the answer for the strong security needs from the consumer market, and we welcome more partners joining us in creating a better ecosystem.
A brief background
The MesaLink project was initiated at Baidu Security X-Lab in 2017. The ultimate goal is to eradicate memory safety vulnerabilities that have plagued OpenSSL in the past decade, such as ‘Heartbleed’. Such vulnerabilities have their roots in the use of C/C++ programming language. We believe Rust, a memory safe language, is the ultimate savior. Rust has been trending in recent years and well-recognized in both industry and academia. It provides a whole set of security mechanisms without sacrificing much performance. Baidu Security X-Lab has been the pioneer in using Rust in system development under the “Hybrid Memory Safe Architectures” introduced by Baidu Chief Security Scientist Tao Wei. The team has built up a wealth of Rust experiences and have successfully rolled out multiple open source projects implemented in Rust, including MesaLink, Rust SGX SDK, and MesaLock Linux.
Project history timeline
2017–08: The MesaLink Project was initiated with “Hybrid Memory Safe Architectures” as the guidelines;
2017–12: v0.1.0 began internal UAT;
2018–04: The first public version, v0.6.0, was released; MesaLink became part of Open AI System Alliance;
2018–07: Baidu Shenzhen Team implemented Android support for MesaLink to transparently replace OpenSSL/BoringSSL;
2018–08: v0.7.0 released, supporting TLS 1.3 Draft 28 and cURL;
2018–08: KuKai TV and Shi9 TV integrated MesaLink, monthly active users reached 1 million;
2018–11: MesaLink was presented at RustFest, one of the top conferences in the Rust community; the talk received a lot of complements and attention;
2018–12: More TV manufacturers integrated MesaLink, including CVTE, TCL, and Konka. The number of monthly active users surpassed 10 million;
2019–01: v0.8.0 released, supporting Baidu BRPC framework and Intel SGX Enclave remote attestation;
2019–04: v1.0.0 released, supporting TLS 1.3 and IPv6. This version marks production readiness.
For future updates, you can visit us at new MesaLink website: https://mesalink.io.
MesaLink is a crucial component of the Baidu AIoT security solution, and one of the core members in the next generation of Baidu AI Security Technology Stack. From new technology R&D to industry solution implementation, Baidu Security X-Lab will continue to partner with researchers and companies to break down the industry barriers, mitigate the system fragmentation, and create a better security eco-system for the AI era.
