Adaptable Value-Set Analysis for Low-Level Code

Abstract

This paper presents a framework for binary code analysis that uses only SAT-based algorithms. Within the framework, incremental SAT solving is used to perform a form of weakly relational value-set analysis in a novel way, connecting the expressiveness of the value sets to computational complexity. Another key feature of our framework is that it translates the semantics of binary code into an intermediate representation. This allows for a straightforward translation of the program semantics into Boolean logic and eases the implementation efforts, too. We show that leveraging the efficiency of contemporary SAT solvers allows us to prove interesting properties about medium-sized microcontroller programs