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Michael D. Ernst. Kieżun, Adam Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2010-03-25T15:27:07Z 2010-03-25T15:27:07Z 2009 2009 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/53291 549069936 Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-100). This dissertation presents techniques and tools for improving software reliability, by using an expressive string-constraint solver to make implementation-based testing more effective and more applicable. Concolic testing is a paradigm of implementation-based systematic software testing that combines dynamic symbolic execution with constraint-based systematic execution-path enumeration. Concolic testing is easy to use and effective in finding real errors. It is, however, limited by the expressiveness of the underlying constraint solver. Therefore, to date, concolic testing has not been successfully applied to programs with highly-structured inputs (e.g., compilers), or to Web applications. This dissertation shows that the effectiveness and applicability of concolic testing can be greatly improved by using an expressive and efficient string-constraint solver, i.e., a solver for constraints on string variables. We present the design, implementation, and experimental evaluation of a novel string-constraint solver. Furthermore, we show novel techniques for two important problems in concolic testing: getting past input validation in programs with highly-structured inputs, and creating inputs that demonstrate security vulnerabilities in Web applications. by Adam Kieżun. Ph.D. 100 p. eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Effective software testing with a string-constraint solver Thesis application/pdf Publication unknown unknown <Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="2b40a1e8-4f83-4a28-afe3-5a716d3fffde"> <Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type> <Language>eng</Language> <Title>Effective software testing with a string-constraint solver</Title> <PublishedIn> <Publication> </Publication> </PublishedIn> <PublicationDate>2009</PublicationDate> <Authors> <Author> <DisplayName>Kieżun, Adam</DisplayName> <Affiliation> <OrgUnit> </OrgUnit> </Affiliation> </Author> </Authors> <Editors> </Editors> <Publishers> <Publisher> <DisplayName>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</DisplayName> <OrgUnit /> </Publisher> </Publishers> <License>http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582</License> <Keyword>Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.</Keyword> <Abstract>This dissertation presents techniques and tools for improving software reliability, by using an expressive string-constraint solver to make implementation-based testing more effective and more applicable. Concolic testing is a paradigm of implementation-based systematic software testing that combines dynamic symbolic execution with constraint-based systematic execution-path enumeration. Concolic testing is easy to use and effective in finding real errors. It is, however, limited by the expressiveness of the underlying constraint solver. Therefore, to date, concolic testing has not been successfully applied to programs with highly-structured inputs (e.g., compilers), or to Web applications. This dissertation shows that the effectiveness and applicability of concolic testing can be greatly improved by using an expressive and efficient string-constraint solver, i.e., a solver for constraints on string variables. We present the design, implementation, and experimental evaluation of a novel string-constraint solver. Furthermore, we show novel techniques for two important problems in concolic testing: getting past input validation in programs with highly-structured inputs, and creating inputs that demonstrate security vulnerabilities in Web applications.</Abstract> <Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right" > </Access> </Publication>