Even as an OpenBSD fan, I&#x27;m not sure why tptacek was downvoted here. W^X etc. make it harder to write an exploit, but sufficiently-bad bugs can still yield arbitrary code execution. (Or confused-deputy problems allowing escalation to root, etc.; there&#x27;s more than one way to pwn a box.)<p>And - architecturally - OpenBSD&#x27;s kernel isn&#x27;t that different from Linux, both being UNIX-style kernels; to the extent that OpenBSD&#x27;s kernel has better security than Linux, it&#x27;s mostly because OpenBSD tends to have fewer (and, sometimes, better-considered) features.<p>(There&#x27;s an interesting argument to be had about Linux+grsecurity vs. OpenBSD - focusing on having some cutting-edge parts vs. solid engineering throughout - but that&#x27;s not the argument we&#x27;re having.)