3,244 research outputs found
An efficient, parametric fixpoint algorithm for analysis of java bytecode
Abstract interpretation has been widely used for the analysis of object-oriented languages and, in particular, Java source and bytecode. However, while most existing work deals with the problem of flnding expressive abstract domains that track accurately the characteristics of a particular concrete property, the underlying flxpoint algorithms have received comparatively less attention. In fact, many existing (abstract interpretation based—) flxpoint algorithms rely on relatively inefHcient techniques for solving inter-procedural caligraphs or are speciflc and tied to particular analyses. We also argüe that the design of an efficient fixpoint algorithm is pivotal to supporting the analysis of large programs. In this paper we introduce a novel algorithm for analysis of Java bytecode which includes a number of optimizations in order to reduce the number of iterations. The algorithm is parametric -in the sense that it is independent of the abstract domain used and it can be applied to different domains as "plug-ins"-, multivariant, and flow-sensitive. Also, is based on a program transformation, prior to the analysis, that results in a highly uniform representation of all the features in the language and therefore simplifies analysis. Detailed descriptions of decompilation solutions are given and discussed with an example. We also provide some performance data from a preliminary implementation of the analysis
Recovering Grammar Relationships for the Java Language Specification
Grammar convergence is a method that helps discovering relationships between
different grammars of the same language or different language versions. The key
element of the method is the operational, transformation-based representation
of those relationships. Given input grammars for convergence, they are
transformed until they are structurally equal. The transformations are composed
from primitive operators; properties of these operators and the composed chains
provide quantitative and qualitative insight into the relationships between the
grammars at hand. We describe a refined method for grammar convergence, and we
use it in a major study, where we recover the relationships between all the
grammars that occur in the different versions of the Java Language
Specification (JLS). The relationships are represented as grammar
transformation chains that capture all accidental or intended differences
between the JLS grammars. This method is mechanized and driven by nominal and
structural differences between pairs of grammars that are subject to
asymmetric, binary convergence steps. We present the underlying operator suite
for grammar transformation in detail, and we illustrate the suite with many
examples of transformations on the JLS grammars. We also describe the
extraction effort, which was needed to make the JLS grammars amenable to
automated processing. We include substantial metadata about the convergence
process for the JLS so that the effort becomes reproducible and transparent
Evaluation of Kermeta for Solving Graph-based Problems
Kermeta is a meta-language for specifying the structure and behavior of graphs of interconnected objects called models. In this paper,\ud
we show that Kermeta is relatively suitable for solving three graph-based\ud
problems. First, Kermeta allows the specification of generic model\ud
transformations such as refactorings that we apply to different metamodels\ud
including Ecore, Java, and Uml. Second, we demonstrate the extensibility\ud
of Kermeta to the formal language Alloy using an inter-language model\ud
transformation. Kermeta uses Alloy to generate recommendations for\ud
completing partially specified models. Third, we show that the Kermeta\ud
compiler achieves better execution time and memory performance compared\ud
to similar graph-based approaches using a common case study. The\ud
three solutions proposed for those graph-based problems and their\ud
evaluation with Kermeta according to the criteria of genericity,\ud
extensibility, and performance are the main contribution of the paper.\ud
Another contribution is the comparison of these solutions with those\ud
proposed by other graph-based tools
Overcoming the Obfuscation of Java Programs by Identifier Renaming
Decompilation is the process of translating object code to source code and is usually the first step towards the reverse-engineering
of an application. Many obfuscation techniques and tools have been developed, with the aim of modifying a program, such that its
functionalities are preserved, while its understandability is compromised for a human reader or the decompilation is made unsuccessful.
Some approaches rely on malicious identifiers renaming, i.e., on the modification of the program identifiers in order to introduce
confusion and possibly prevent the decompilation of the code.
In this work we introduce a new technique to overcome the obfuscation of Java programs by identifier renaming. Such a technique
relies on the intelligent modification of identifiers in Java bytecode.
We present a new software tool which implements our technique and allows the processing of an obfuscated program in order to
rename the identifiers as required by our technique. Moreover, we show how to use the existing tools to provide a partial implementation
of the technique we propose.
Finally, we discuss the feasibility of our approach by showing how to contrast the obfuscation techniques based on malicious
identifier renaming recently presented in literature
Interacting via the Heap in the Presence of Recursion
Almost all modern imperative programming languages include operations for
dynamically manipulating the heap, for example by allocating and deallocating
objects, and by updating reference fields. In the presence of recursive
procedures and local variables the interactions of a program with the heap can
become rather complex, as an unbounded number of objects can be allocated
either on the call stack using local variables, or, anonymously, on the heap
using reference fields. As such a static analysis is, in general, undecidable.
In this paper we study the verification of recursive programs with unbounded
allocation of objects, in a simple imperative language for heap manipulation.
We present an improved semantics for this language, using an abstraction that
is precise. For any program with a bounded visible heap, meaning that the
number of objects reachable from variables at any point of execution is
bounded, this abstraction is a finitary representation of its behaviour, even
though an unbounded number of objects can appear in the state. As a
consequence, for such programs model checking is decidable.
Finally we introduce a specification language for temporal properties of the
heap, and discuss model checking these properties against heap-manipulating
programs.Comment: In Proceedings ICE 2012, arXiv:1212.345
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