Taming a fuzzer using delta debugging trails

Yuanli Pei, Arpit Christi, Xiaoli Fern, Alex Groce, Weng Keen Wong

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Fuzzers, or random testing tools, are powerful tools for finding bugs. A major problem with using fuzzersis that they often trigger many bugs that are already known. The fuzzer taming problem addresses this issue by ordering bug-triggering random test cases generated by a fuzzer such that test cases exposing diverse bugs are found early in the ranking. Previous work on fuzzer taming first reduces each test case into a minimal failure-inducing test case using delta debugging, then finds the ordering by applying the Furthest Point First algorithm over the reduced test cases. During the delta debugging process, a sequence of failing test cases is generated (the 'delta debugging trail'). We hypothesize that these additional failing test cases also contain relevant information about the bug and could be useful for fuzzertaming. In this paper, we propose to use these additional failing test cases generated during delta debugging to help tame fuzzers. Our experiments show that this allows for more diverse bugs to be found early in the furthest point first ranking.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings - 14th IEEE International Conference on Data Mining Workshops, ICDMW 2014
EditorsZhi-Hua Zhou, Wei Wang, Ravi Kumar, Hannu Toivonen, Jian Pei, Joshua Zhexue Huang, Xindong Wu
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages840-843
Number of pages4
EditionJanuary
ISBN (Electronic)9781479942749
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 26 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event14th IEEE International Conference on Data Mining Workshops, ICDMW 2014 - Shenzhen, China
Duration: Dec 14 2014 → …

Publication series

NameIEEE International Conference on Data Mining Workshops, ICDMW
NumberJanuary
Volume2015-January
ISSN (Print)2375-9232
ISSN (Electronic)2375-9259

Conference

Conference14th IEEE International Conference on Data Mining Workshops, ICDMW 2014
Country/TerritoryChina
CityShenzhen
Period12/14/14 → …

Keywords

  • Automated Testing
  • Fuzzer Taming
  • Fuzzing
  • Software Testing
  • Test-Case Reduction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Software

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Taming a fuzzer using delta debugging trails'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this