[llvm-dev] Applying for GSoC 2021(Fuzzing LLVM-IR Passes)

[John Regehr via llvm-dev]

Hi folks, an angle related to IR fuzzing that I would be happy to help 
out with is using Alive2 as a test oracle.

Using Alive2 incurs a set of problems (not all IR features supported, 
can be very slow) but has corresponding advantages (considers all inputs 
at once, handles UB gracefully).

John



On 3/8/21 1:20 PM, Johannes Doerfert via llvm-dev wrote:
> Hi Chibin,
> 
> apologies for the late reply.
> 
> There have been multiple people that expressed interest in this project,
> though it is open ended and we might want to tackle it from different 
> angles.
> 
> Truth be told, anything towards testing LLVM would be OK with me. To name a
> few areas: mutation testing inputs (C/C++/LLVM-IR/...), reordering or 
> skipping
> passes, creating an IR database for testing but maybe also other purposes.
> 
> I'd also be interested in fuzzing the OpenMP frontend and runtime (both 
> on the
> host and GPU) if that is something you might want to do. I think here is a
> plethora of crashes and hangs to be found, not to mention the 
> correctness issues
> if we manage to do test generation for which we can verify the result.
> 
> Given that you have experience building and extending LLVM already, I 
> think a
> good next would be to narrow it down so you can start looking at the 
> infrastructure
> we want to test, e.g., the pass manager builder if we want to swap 
> passes to find
> hidden dependences between them. The existing fuzzer capabilities and 
> the C++
> mutation testing developed outside of LLVM 
> (https://github.com/mull-project/mull)
> are also good places to take a look.
> 
> Let me know what of the above areas, or areas of your choosing, might be 
> most
> interesting to you. We can also schedule a 30min chat, just send me an 
> email with
> times that would work for you.
> 
> ~ Johannes
> 
> 
> On 3/1/21 1:29 PM, Stefan Stipanovic wrote:
>> +Johannes Doerfert <johannesdoerfert at gmail.com>
>>
>> Hi Chibin,
>>
>> Johannes will give you more information, but you can always start by
>> familiarizing yourself with the Attributor.
>>
>> Stefan
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 1, 2021 at 6:11 PM 张驰斌 via llvm-dev 
>> <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi LLVM developers,
>>>
>>>        I am a junior student majoring in Computer Science at 
>>> ShanghaiTech
>>> University. I’ve been browsing through
>>> https://llvm.org/OpenProjects.html#gsoc21 and found out that LLVM is
>>> participating in Google Summer of Code 2021. I wanted to be sure to 
>>> inquire
>>> about it and get in touch soon.
>>>
>>>        One project idea really caught my eyes, ‘Fuzzing LLVM-IR Passes,’
>>> striking chord with my experience. Currently, I am working with 
>>> Professor
>>> Hao Chen (Contact author of the fuzzer Angora) and his fellow graduate
>>> students researching fuzzing.  My main contribution lies in the
>>> experimental evaluation part. I’ve written many scripts to automate the
>>> benchmarking of different fuzzers, e.g., building libraries with fuzzer
>>> instrumentation (afl-clang-fast…), running fuzzers, and triaging and
>>> analyzing fuzz-results with afl-cov. Our most recent paper is under 
>>> review
>>> at USENIX Security 2021. I’ve also written a dozen LLVM passes following
>>> USCD’s advanced compiler course (Open-sourced code and notes at
>>> https://github.com/chibinz/CSE231) as practice and contributed to the
>>> basic block stubbing pass for coverage feedback in the prior research
>>> project. If applicable, I see this as a golden opportunity to 
>>> exercise what
>>> I’ve learned about LLVM and fuzzing in real-world application and at 
>>> LLVM
>>> scale. This also a chance for me, as an LLVM user, to contribute back to
>>> LLVM, following the FOSS spirit.
>>>
>>>        I wonder if this project is already occupied or still 
>>> available? Are
>>> there any ‘good first issue’ that I can start working on or code of
>>> interest worth reading? I am aware the project description directs me to
>>> reach out to mentor Johannes Doerfert on IRC, but somehow trying to 
>>> connect
>>> to the LLVM IRC channel using different clients always complains that 
>>> the
>>> server refused the connection…(Sorry, but I’m not familiar with IRC, 
>>> this
>>> is the first time trying…) Are there any other way to get in touch 
>>> with the
>>> mentor? I feel really excited and hope to hear from you soon.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Chibin Zhang
>>>
>>> 2021.3.1
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> LLVM Developers mailing list
>>> llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
>>> https://lists.llvm.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/llvm-dev
>>>
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