Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bai, Weiheng, Wu, Kefu, Wu, Qiushi, Lu, Kangjie
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.10828
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866914157785251840
author Bai, Weiheng
Wu, Kefu
Wu, Qiushi
Lu, Kangjie
author_facet Bai, Weiheng
Wu, Kefu
Wu, Qiushi
Lu, Kangjie
contents Directed fuzzing is a useful testing technique that aims to efficiently reach target code sites in a program. The core of directed fuzzing is the guiding mechanism that directs the fuzzing to the specified target. A general guiding mechanism adopted in existing directed fuzzers is to calculate the control-flow distance between the current progress and the target, and use that as feedback to guide the directed fuzzing. A fundamental problem with the existing guiding mechanism is that the distance calculation is \emph{feasibility-unaware}. In this work, we propose feasibility-aware directed fuzzing named AFLGopher. Our new feasibility-aware distance calculation provides pragmatic feedback to guide directed fuzzing to reach targets efficiently. We propose new techniques to address the challenges of feasibility prediction. Our new classification method allows us to predict the feasibility of all branches based on limited traces, and our runtime feasibility-updating mechanism gradually and efficiently improves the prediction precision. We implemented AFLGopher and compared AFLGopher with state-of-the-art directed fuzzers including AFLGo, enhanced AFLGo, WindRanger, BEACON and SelectFuzz. AFLGopher is 3.76x, 2.57x, 3.30x, 2.52x and 2.86x faster than AFLGo, BEACON, WindRanger, SelectFuzz and enhanced AFLGo, respectively, in reaching targets. AFLGopher is 5.60x, 5.20x, 4.98x, 4.52x, and 5.07x faster than AFLGo, BEACON, WindRanger, SelectFuzz and enhanced AFLGo, respectively, in triggering known vulnerabilities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_10828
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle AFLGopher: Accelerating Directed Fuzzing via Feasibility-Aware Guidance
Bai, Weiheng
Wu, Kefu
Wu, Qiushi
Lu, Kangjie
Cryptography and Security
Software Engineering
Directed fuzzing is a useful testing technique that aims to efficiently reach target code sites in a program. The core of directed fuzzing is the guiding mechanism that directs the fuzzing to the specified target. A general guiding mechanism adopted in existing directed fuzzers is to calculate the control-flow distance between the current progress and the target, and use that as feedback to guide the directed fuzzing. A fundamental problem with the existing guiding mechanism is that the distance calculation is \emph{feasibility-unaware}. In this work, we propose feasibility-aware directed fuzzing named AFLGopher. Our new feasibility-aware distance calculation provides pragmatic feedback to guide directed fuzzing to reach targets efficiently. We propose new techniques to address the challenges of feasibility prediction. Our new classification method allows us to predict the feasibility of all branches based on limited traces, and our runtime feasibility-updating mechanism gradually and efficiently improves the prediction precision. We implemented AFLGopher and compared AFLGopher with state-of-the-art directed fuzzers including AFLGo, enhanced AFLGo, WindRanger, BEACON and SelectFuzz. AFLGopher is 3.76x, 2.57x, 3.30x, 2.52x and 2.86x faster than AFLGo, BEACON, WindRanger, SelectFuzz and enhanced AFLGo, respectively, in reaching targets. AFLGopher is 5.60x, 5.20x, 4.98x, 4.52x, and 5.07x faster than AFLGo, BEACON, WindRanger, SelectFuzz and enhanced AFLGo, respectively, in triggering known vulnerabilities.
title AFLGopher: Accelerating Directed Fuzzing via Feasibility-Aware Guidance
topic Cryptography and Security
Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.10828