Related papers: Weird Machines as Insecure Compilation
A quantum computer has now solved a specialized problem believed to be intractable for supercomputers, suggesting that quantum processors may soon outperform supercomputers on scientifically important problems. But flaws in each quantum…
Complex software-driven systems often interleave distributed, concurrent computation processes with physical interactions with the environment. Developing these systems more efficiently and safely can be achieved by employing actionable,…
Visual Programming Languages (VPLs), coupled with the high-level abstractions that are commonplace in visual programming environments, enable users with less technical knowledge to become proficient programmers. However, the lower skill…
We witness an increasing usage of AI-assistants even for routine (classroom) programming tasks. However, the code generated on basis of a so called "prompt" by the programmer does not always meet accepted security standards. On the one…
Large Language Models (LLMs) for code have gained significant attention recently. They can generate code in different programming languages based on provided prompts, fulfilling a long-lasting dream in Software Engineering (SE), i.e.,…
Embedded software is developed under the assumption that hardware execution is always correct. Fault attacks break and exploit that assumption. Through the careful introduction of targeted faults, an adversary modifies the control-flow or…
Despite extensive testing and correctness certification of their functional semantics, a number of compiler optimizations have been shown to violate security guarantees implemented in source code. While prior work has shed light on how such…
Training a deep learning model on source code has gained significant traction recently. Since such models reason about vectors of numbers, source code needs to be converted to a code representation before vectorization. Numerous approaches…
Capability machines such as CHERI provide memory capabilities that can be used by compilers to provide security benefits for compiled code (e.g., memory safety). The existing C to CHERI compiler, for example, achieves memory safety by…
Matrix Code gives imperative programming a mathematical semantics and heuristic power comparable in quality to functional and logic programming. A program in Matrix Code is developed incrementally from a specification in pre/post-condition…
In the past few years, Large Language Models (LLMs) have exploded in usefulness and popularity for code generation tasks. However, LLMs still struggle with accuracy and are unsuitable for high-risk applications without additional oversight…
In recent years, heterogeneous computing has emerged as the vital way to increase computers? performance and energy efficiency by combining diverse hardware devices, such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and Field Programmable Gate…
Insecure default values in software settings can be exploited by attackers to compromise the system that runs the software. As a countermeasure, there exist security-configuration guides specifying in detail which values are secure.…
In recent years, the use of deep learning in language models gained much attention. Some research projects claim that they can generate text that can be interpreted as human-writing, enabling new possibilities in many application areas.…
Rust aims to be a safe programming language applicable to systems programming applications. In particular, its type system has strong guardrails to prevent a variety of issues, such as memory safety bugs and data races. However, these…
Many tools and libraries are readily available to build and operate distributed Web applications. While the setup of operational environments is comparatively easy, practice shows that their continuous secure operation is more difficult to…
The continuous increase in malware samples, both in sophistication and number, presents many challenges for organizations and analysts, who must cope with thousands of new heterogeneous samples daily. This requires robust methods to quickly…
As LLMs grow in capability, the task of supervising LLMs becomes more challenging. Supervision failures can occur if LLMs are sensitive to factors that supervisors are unaware of. We investigate Mechanistic Anomaly Detection (MAD) as a…
Dependently typed programming languages such as Coq, Agda, Idris, and F*, allow programmers to write detailed specifications of their programs and prove their programs meet these specifications. However, these specifications can be violated…
With the increasing release of powerful language models trained on large code corpus (e.g. CodeBERT was trained on 6.4 million programs), a new family of mutation testing tools has arisen with the promise to generate more "natural" mutants…