Definition
Plain language
The operating system's running list of every program currently active on a machine.
As stated in the literature
Kernel-maintained per-process state enumerable via /proc or ps; visibility into it is a standard reconnaissance primitive normally unavailable to a model confined to the token interface.
Also called: process list
Why it matters: Being able to see everything running on a machine is one of the first things an intruder wants and something a model talking only through text should never have, so unexpected access to it is a meaningful boundary being crossed.
For example, an administrator listing the process table can see that a web server, a database, and a backup job are all currently running, and which user started each one.
Heard on the show
“They had no access to the file system, the process list, or anything a model isn't normally handed.”Episode 272 — How a Model Guesses Which Engine Is Running It, From a Wrong Date