Solution for Linux BYOD Exams: Automated Live USB "ExamOS" Builder (Bypassing Wayland Restrictions)

[DHAYALANKANIAPPAN]

Hello SEB Team and Community,

I know that providing a secure "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) Linux client has been historically difficult, primarily because modern Linux distributions now enforce the Wayland display server. Because Wayland intentionally prevents applications from grabbing global keyboard input or blocking compositor shortcuts (like Alt+Tab), securing a standard Linux host OS has become nearly impossible.

To solve this for our institution, I engineered an alternative approach: instead of trying to lock down a student's unmanaged host OS, I built an automated script that generates a highly secure, bootable Linux "Live USB" Appliance.

Project Link: https://github.com/DHAYALANKANIAPPAN/LinuxSEB-Builder

How it works: It is a single Bash script (build.sh) that uses debootstrap to construct a minimal Debian desktop environment that forces the use of the X11 display server. By running natively on X11, the included PyQt6 Chromium browser is able to execute a true kiosk lockdown (grabbing the keyboard and blocking all OS shortcuts) with ultimate system privileges.

Key Features:

Zero-Install BYOD: Students just flash the generated .iso to a USB drive and boot. It runs on bare-metal physical hardware, completely bypassing Virtual Machine detection blocks.
LMS / Moodle Integration: The custom Python web engine is configured to silently intercept Moodle .seb configuration downloads, parse the Plist/XML on the fly, and automatically redirect the student directly to the exam page.
AI Proctoring Hooks: I also included an experimental proctor.py module that pulls webcam frames in the background and uses NVIDIA NIM Vision AI to detect cell phones or multiple faces.
I wanted to share this architecture with the community for any universities or IT administrators looking for a way to conduct secure Linux BYOD exams without fighting the Wayland sandbox.

I would love to hear your thoughts or feedback on this approach!