SlowFuzz: Automated Domain-Independent Detection of Algorithmic Complexity Vulnerabilities

Algorithmic complexity vulnerabilities occur when the worst-case time/space complexity of an application is significantly higher than the respective average case for particular user-controlled inputs. When such conditions are met, an attacker can launch Denial-of-Service attacks against a vulnerable application by providing inputs that trigger the worst-case behavior. Such attacks have been known to have serious effects on production systems, take down entire websites, or lead to bypasses of Web Application Firewalls. Unfortunately, existing detection mechanisms for algorithmic complexity vulnerabilities are domain-specific and often require significant manual effort. In this paper, we design, implement, and evaluate SlowFuzz, a domain-independent framework for automatically finding algorithmic complexity vulnerabilities. SlowFuzz automatically finds inputs that trigger worst-case algorithmic behavior in the tested binary. SlowFuzz uses resource-usage-guided evolutionary search techniques to automatically find inputs that maximize computational resource utilization for a given application.Comment: ACM CCS '17, October 30-November 3, 2017, Dallas, TX, US

Phase oscillations in superfluid 3He-B weak links

Oscillations in quantum phase about a mean value of $\pi$, observed across micropores connecting two \helium baths, are explained in a Ginzburg-Landau phenomenology. The dynamics arises from the Josephson phase relation,the interbath continuity equation, and helium boundary conditions. The pores are shown to act as Josephson tunnel junctions, and the dynamic variables are the inter bath phase difference and fractional difference in superfluid density at micropores. The system maps onto a non-rigid, momentum-shortened pendulum, with inverted-orientation oscillations about a vertical tilt angle $\phi = \pi$, and other modes are predicted

Theoretical calculations of radiant heat transfer properties of particle-seeded gases

Radiant heat transfer properties of particle seeded gases, including absorption and scattering characteristics of carbon, silicon, and tungste

X - Ray Flares and Their Connection With Prompt Emission in GRBs

We use a wavelet technique to investigate the time variations in the light curves from a sample of GRBs detected by Fermi and Swift. We focus primarily on the behavior of the flaring region of Swift-XRT light curves in order to explore connections between variability time scales and pulse parameters (such as rise and decay times, widths, strengths, and separation distributions) and spectral lags. Tight correlations between some of these temporal features suggest a common origin for the production of X-ray flares and the prompt emission.Comment: 7th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium, GRB 2013: paper 15 in eConf Proceedings C130414

Gamma-Ray Bursts: Temporal Scales and the Bulk Lorentz Factor

For a sample of Swift and Fermi GRBs, we show that the minimum variability timescale and the spectral lag of the prompt emission is related to the bulk Lorentz factor in a complex manner: For small $\Gamma$'s, the variability timescale exhibits a shallow (plateau) region. For large $\Gamma$'s, the variability timescale declines steeply as a function of $\Gamma$ ($\delta T\propto\Gamma^{-4.05\pm0.64}$). Evidence is also presented for an intriguing correlation between the peak times, t$_p$, of the afterglow emission and the prompt emission variability timescale.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

The Thermal Evolution of Ices in the Environments of Newly Formed Stars: The CO_2 Diagnostic

Archival data from the Infrared Spectrometer of the Spitzer Space Telescope are used to study the 15 μm absorption feature of solid CO_2 toward 28 young stellar objects (YSOs) of approximately solar mass. Fits to the absorption profile using laboratory spectra enable categorization according to the degree of thermal processing of the ice matrix that contains the CO_2. The majority of YSOs in our sample (20 out of 28) are found to be consistent with a combination of polar (H_2O-rich) and nonpolar (CO-rich) ices at low temperature; the remainder exhibit profile structure consistent with partial crystallization as the result of significant heating. Ice-phase column densities of CO_2 are determined and compared with those of other species. Lines of sight with crystallization signatures in their spectra are found to be systematically deficient in solid-phase CO, as expected if CO is being sublimated in regions where the ices are heated to crystallization temperatures. Significant variation is found in the CO2 abundance with respect to both H_2O (the dominant ice constituent) and total dust column (quantified by the extinction, AV ). YSOs in our sample display typically higher CO_2 concentrations (independent of evidence for thermal processing) in comparison to quiescent regions of the prototypical cold molecular cloud. This suggests that enhanced CO_2 production is driven by photochemical reactions in proximity to some YSOs, and that photoprocessing and thermal processing may occur independently

Sensory organ like response determines the magnetism of zigzag-edged honeycomb nanoribbons

We present an analytical theory for the magnetic phase diagram for zigzag edge terminated honeycomb nanoribbons described by a Hubbard model with an interaction parameter U . We show that the edge magnetic moment varies as ln U and uncover its dependence on the width W of the ribbon. The physics of this owes its origin to the sensory organ like response of the nanoribbons, demonstrating that considerations beyond the usual Stoner-Landau theory are necessary to understand the magnetism of these systems. A first order magnetic transition from an anti-parallel orientation of the moments on opposite edges to a parallel orientation occurs upon doping with holes or electrons. The critical doping for this transition is shown to depend inversely on the width of the ribbon. Using variational Monte-Carlo calculations, we show that magnetism is robust to fluctuations. Additionally, we show that the magnetic phase diagram is generic to zigzag edge terminated nanostructures such as nanodots. Furthermore, we perform first principles modeling to show how such magnetic transitions can be realized in substituted graphene nanoribbons.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure