Quiz 3 Flashcards
What makes two variables aliases?
They reference the same memory location
What has to decided for every pair of pointers at every program’s point?
Do the pointers point to the same memory location
What are the issues that may arise when analyzing pointers?
Do each pair of pointers point to the same memory location?
What pointers to report that do or may alias
Which pointers are ambiguous.
What will occur with this code?
Char *p;
*p = ‘A’;
It may or may not result in a segmentation fault because the pointer is not initialized
Give the alias set for the following code
int x,y;
int *p = &x;
int *q = &y;
int *r = p;
int *r = p;
int **s = &q;
{x, *p, *r}
{y, *q, **s}
{q, *s}
Give the Alias for this code.
int x = 10;
int y = 20;
int *p;
if (true)
p = &x;
else
p = &y;
{x, *p}
{y, *p}
{p}
What is a checker?
A program that is defined by a state diagram with state transitions and error states
How does the checker runs?
It assigns an initial state to each program variable
States at program point depends on state at previous point, program actions
Emits an error if a error state is reached
What are the three ways programs can be analyzed?
Static Analysis
Dynamic Analysis
Concolic Analysis
What is static analysis?
Inspecting code or run a automated method to find errors or gain confidence about their absence
What is dynamic analysis?
Running code with sample test input, possible under instrumented conditions, to see if there are likely problems
What is concolic analysis?
A hybrid program verification technique that performs symbolic execution, along a concrete execution path
What is symbolic execution?
A classical technique that treats program variables as symbolic variables
What are some examples of static analysis?
FindBugs, Fortify, Coverity, MS Tools
What is static analysis best used for?
Problem identification
Why is static analysis best used for problem identification?
It checks thoroughly and consistently
Can point to the root cause of the problem
Helps find error/bugs early in development
New information can be easily incorporated to recheck a given system
What is program verification?
Checks if a given input results in a correct given output
What are the advantage and disadvantage of static analysis?
Advantage: achieves completeness
Disadvantage: suffers soundenss
What is the most critical component of static analysis?
Constructing the model using data flows, control flows and pointer analysis
What is static analysis used for in security?
Finding bugs, verifying program correctness
Why isn’t dynamic analysis useful on its own?
It doesn’t give you a good enough explanation of what went wrong when the program fails
