Expert-in-the-Loop Systems with Cross-Domain and In-Domain Few-Shot Learning for Software Vulnerability Detection

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Farr, David, Talty, Kevin, Farr, Alexandra, Stockdale, John, Cruickshank, Iain, West, Jevin
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866909646263943168
author Farr, David
Talty, Kevin
Farr, Alexandra
Stockdale, John
Cruickshank, Iain
West, Jevin
author_facet Farr, David
Talty, Kevin
Farr, Alexandra
Stockdale, John
Cruickshank, Iain
West, Jevin
contents As cyber threats become more sophisticated, rapid and accurate vulnerability detection is essential for maintaining secure systems. This study explores the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) in software vulnerability assessment by simulating the identification of Python code with known Common Weakness Enumerations (CWEs), comparing zero-shot, few-shot cross-domain, and few-shot in-domain prompting strategies. Our results indicate that while zero-shot prompting performs poorly, few-shot prompting significantly enhances classification performance, particularly when integrated with confidence-based routing strategies that improve efficiency by directing human experts to cases where model uncertainty is high, optimizing the balance between automation and expert oversight. We find that LLMs can effectively generalize across vulnerability categories with minimal examples, suggesting their potential as scalable, adaptable cybersecurity tools in simulated environments. However, challenges such as model reliability, interpretability, and adversarial robustness remain critical areas for future research. By integrating AI-driven approaches with expert-in-the-loop (EITL) decision-making, this work highlights a pathway toward more efficient and responsive cybersecurity workflows. Our findings provide a foundation for deploying AI-assisted vulnerability detection systems in both real and simulated environments that enhance operational resilience while reducing the burden on human analysts.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_10104
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Expert-in-the-Loop Systems with Cross-Domain and In-Domain Few-Shot Learning for Software Vulnerability Detection
Farr, David
Talty, Kevin
Farr, Alexandra
Stockdale, John
Cruickshank, Iain
West, Jevin
Cryptography and Security
Software Engineering
As cyber threats become more sophisticated, rapid and accurate vulnerability detection is essential for maintaining secure systems. This study explores the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) in software vulnerability assessment by simulating the identification of Python code with known Common Weakness Enumerations (CWEs), comparing zero-shot, few-shot cross-domain, and few-shot in-domain prompting strategies. Our results indicate that while zero-shot prompting performs poorly, few-shot prompting significantly enhances classification performance, particularly when integrated with confidence-based routing strategies that improve efficiency by directing human experts to cases where model uncertainty is high, optimizing the balance between automation and expert oversight. We find that LLMs can effectively generalize across vulnerability categories with minimal examples, suggesting their potential as scalable, adaptable cybersecurity tools in simulated environments. However, challenges such as model reliability, interpretability, and adversarial robustness remain critical areas for future research. By integrating AI-driven approaches with expert-in-the-loop (EITL) decision-making, this work highlights a pathway toward more efficient and responsive cybersecurity workflows. Our findings provide a foundation for deploying AI-assisted vulnerability detection systems in both real and simulated environments that enhance operational resilience while reducing the burden on human analysts.
title Expert-in-the-Loop Systems with Cross-Domain and In-Domain Few-Shot Learning for Software Vulnerability Detection
topic Cryptography and Security
Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10104