Using eBPF to Capture Complete Java Call Stacks from OpenJDK 8 JVM without Agent

Our team has recently used eBPF‑based dynamic tracing to capture complete Java call‑stack traces from an OpenJDK 8 JVM process at any arbitrary point in time, with precision down to the Java source line.

No cooperation from the JVM is needed; the method does not rely on any JVM agent, bytecode injection, or machine‑code injection. The target process is accessed in a read‑only manner only, and the approach works for both interpreted and JIT‑compiled Java bytecode. The overhead is on the order of a few hundred microseconds, making it suitable for online production environments.

The Java call‑stack retrieval leverages existing C++ code inside the JVM, ensuring correctness. This C++ code is compiled by our Y++ and Ylang compilers into eBPF bytecode programs or other tracing tools, simplifying the workflow.

Future work includes generating various types of flame graphs, extracting method‑frame parameters and local variable values, and extending support to additional OpenJDK major versions such as 11.