Link-time smart card code hardening

This paper presents a feasibility study to protect smart card software against fault-injection attacks by means of link-time code rewriting. This approach avoids the drawbacks of source code hardening, avoids the need for manual assembly writing, and is applicable in conjunction with closed third-party compilers. We implemented a range of cookbook code hardening recipes in a prototype link-time rewriter and evaluate their coverage and associated overhead to conclude that this approach is promising. We demonstrate that the overhead of using an automated link-time approach is not significantly higher than what can be obtained with compile-time hardening or with manual hardening of compiler-generated assembly code

Non-termination using Regular Languages

We describe a method for proving non-looping non-termination, that is, of term rewriting systems that do not admit looping reductions. As certificates of non-termination, we employ regular (tree) automata.Comment: Published at International Workshop on Termination 201

Runtime verification for biochemical programs

The biochemical paradigm is well-suited for modelling autonomous systems and new programming languages are emerging from this approach. However, in order to validate such programs, we need to define precisely their semantics and to provide verification techniques. In this paper, we consider a higher-order biochemical calculus that models the structure of system states and its dynamics thanks to rewriting abstractions, namely rules and strategies. We extend this calculus with a runtime verification technique in order to perform automatic discovery of property satisfaction failure. The property specification language is a subclass of LTL safety and liveness properties

Specification and Verification of Distributed Embedded Systems: A Traffic Intersection Product Family

Distributed embedded systems (DESs) are no longer the exception; they are the rule in many application areas such as avionics, the automotive industry, traffic systems, sensor networks, and medical devices. Formal DES specification and verification is challenging due to state space explosion and the need to support real-time features. This paper reports on an extensive industry-based case study involving a DES product family for a pedestrian and car 4-way traffic intersection in which autonomous devices communicate by asynchronous message passing without a centralized controller. All the safety requirements and a liveness requirement informally specified in the requirements document have been formally verified using Real-Time Maude and its model checking features.Comment: In Proceedings RTRTS 2010, arXiv:1009.398

Liveness Verification in TRSs Using Tree Automata and Termination Analysis

This paper considers verification of the liveness property Live(R, I, G) for a term rewrite system (TRS) R, where I (Initial states) and G (Good states) are two sets of ground terms represented by finite tree automata. Considering I and G, we transform R to a new TRS R' such that termination of R' proves the property Live(R, I, G)