{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4414538714","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tse.2025.3614128","title":"Misactivation-Aware Stealthy Backdoor Attacks on Neural Code Understanding Models","display_name":"Misactivation-Aware Stealthy Backdoor Attacks on Neural Code Understanding Models","publication_year":2025,"publication_date":"2025-09-26","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4414538714","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tse.2025.3614128"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1109/tse.2025.3614128","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tse.2025.3614128","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S8351582","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering","issn_l":"0098-5589","issn":["0098-5589","1939-3520","2326-3881"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering","raw_type":"journal-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":false,"oa_status":"closed","oa_url":null,"any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5006966486","display_name":"Xiaobing Sun","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5165-5080"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I78978612","display_name":"Yangzhou University","ror":"https://ror.org/03tqb8s11","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Xiaobing Sun","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5165-5080","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Yiran Xiao","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4620-1949"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I78978612","display_name":"Yangzhou University","ror":"https://ror.org/03tqb8s11","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Yiran Xiao","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4620-1949","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5013537395","display_name":"Lili Bo","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7267-4923"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I78978612","display_name":"Yangzhou University","ror":"https://ror.org/03tqb8s11","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Lili Bo","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7267-4923","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5013856385","display_name":"Weisong Sun","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9236-8264"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I172675005","display_name":"Nanyang Technological University","ror":"https://ror.org/02e7b5302","country_code":"SG","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I172675005"]}],"countries":["SG"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Weisong Sun","raw_affiliation_strings":["College of Computing and Data Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9236-8264","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"College of Computing and Data Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I172675005"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Xiangyue Liu","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9764-8623"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I78978612","display_name":"Yangzhou University","ror":"https://ror.org/03tqb8s11","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Xiangyue Liu","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9764-8623","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5100365126","display_name":"Bin Li","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8500-9917"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I78978612","display_name":"Yangzhou University","ror":"https://ror.org/03tqb8s11","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Bin Li","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8500-9917","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5100744176","display_name":"Jiale Zhang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2143-5666"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I78978612","display_name":"Yangzhou University","ror":"https://ror.org/03tqb8s11","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Jiale Zhang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2143-5666","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Information Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I78978612"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":2,"institutions_distinct_count":2,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.9024,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":1,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.77230237,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":91,"max":95},"biblio":{"volume":"51","issue":"12","first_page":"3395","last_page":"3415"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11241","display_name":"Advanced Malware Detection Techniques","score":0.9869999885559082,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1711","display_name":"Signal Processing"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11241","display_name":"Advanced Malware Detection Techniques","score":0.9869999885559082,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1711","display_name":"Signal Processing"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10260","display_name":"Software Engineering Research","score":0.9861000180244446,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.9842000007629395,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/backdoor","display_name":"Backdoor","score":0.9987000226974487},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/code","display_name":"Code (set theory)","score":0.6083999872207642},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/clone","display_name":"clone (Java method)","score":0.45559999346733093},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/source-code","display_name":"Source code","score":0.3644999861717224},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/emulation","display_name":"Emulation","score":0.32120001316070557}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2781045450","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q254569","display_name":"Backdoor","level":2,"score":0.9987000226974487},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.7935000061988831},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C38652104","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3510521","display_name":"Computer security","level":1,"score":0.6420000195503235},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776760102","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5139990","display_name":"Code (set theory)","level":3,"score":0.6083999872207642},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C81089528","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5134986","display_name":"clone (Java method)","level":3,"score":0.45559999346733093},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C43126263","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q128751","display_name":"Source code","level":2,"score":0.3644999861717224},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C149810388","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5374873","display_name":"Emulation","level":2,"score":0.32120001316070557},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C1009929","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q179550","display_name":"Software bug","level":3,"score":0.31450000405311584},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C124101348","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q172491","display_name":"Data mining","level":1,"score":0.29280000925064087},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C11413529","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8366","display_name":"Algorithm","level":1,"score":0.2653000056743622},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.26190000772476196},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.26159998774528503},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C12725497","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q810247","display_name":"Baseline (sea)","level":2,"score":0.2615000009536743},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779304628","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3503480","display_name":"Face (sociological concept)","level":2,"score":0.25040000677108765}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":2,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1109/tse.2025.3614128","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tse.2025.3614128","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S8351582","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering","issn_l":"0098-5589","issn":["0098-5589","1939-3520","2326-3881"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering","raw_type":"journal-article"},{"id":"pmh:oai:dr.ntu.edu.sg:10356/218283","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10356/218283","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306402609","display_name":"DR-NTU (Nanyang Technological University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I172675005","host_organization_name":"Nanyang Technological University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I172675005"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Journal Article"}],"best_oa_location":null,"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":66,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W2065053490","https://openalex.org/W2741705590","https://openalex.org/W2742956140","https://openalex.org/W2753783305","https://openalex.org/W2934843808","https://openalex.org/W2955426500","https://openalex.org/W2973217491","https://openalex.org/W2996800219","https://openalex.org/W2997451752","https://openalex.org/W3014339000","https://openalex.org/W3042368254","https://openalex.org/W3047587361","https://openalex.org/W3048759177","https://openalex.org/W3098605233","https://openalex.org/W3107793421","https://openalex.org/W3109235236","https://openalex.org/W3109409894","https://openalex.org/W3115279145","https://openalex.org/W3137781054","https://openalex.org/W3152758407","https://openalex.org/W3155431862","https://openalex.org/W3166095789","https://openalex.org/W3173784240","https://openalex.org/W3175052694","https://openalex.org/W3178326529","https://openalex.org/W3188772578","https://openalex.org/W3204619801","https://openalex.org/W3205696278","https://openalex.org/W3210860486","https://openalex.org/W4213009331","https://openalex.org/W4214564822","https://openalex.org/W4214680449","https://openalex.org/W4221033043","https://openalex.org/W4225468040","https://openalex.org/W4252684946","https://openalex.org/W4283825910","https://openalex.org/W4285490489","https://openalex.org/W4285821122","https://openalex.org/W4297902814","https://openalex.org/W4308627220","https://openalex.org/W4312044266","https://openalex.org/W4312329299","https://openalex.org/W4312727366","https://openalex.org/W4376615930","https://openalex.org/W4379512492","https://openalex.org/W4382317573","https://openalex.org/W4384154386","https://openalex.org/W4385564894","https://openalex.org/W4385571453","https://openalex.org/W4386830545","https://openalex.org/W4387298393","https://openalex.org/W4388229767","https://openalex.org/W4388483038","https://openalex.org/W4388631682","https://openalex.org/W4389519269","https://openalex.org/W4389520442","https://openalex.org/W4391696889","https://openalex.org/W4394010871","https://openalex.org/W4394769458","https://openalex.org/W4396949944","https://openalex.org/W4402264526","https://openalex.org/W4403536507","https://openalex.org/W4411450124","https://openalex.org/W4411450147","https://openalex.org/W4411552835","https://openalex.org/W4414538714"],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Neural":[0],"code":[1,12,196,242],"models":[2],"(NCMs)":[3],"play":[4],"a":[5,132,234],"crucial":[6],"role":[7],"in":[8,90,111,116,190,237,252],"helping":[9],"developers":[10],"solve":[11],"understanding":[13,197],"tasks.":[14],"Recent":[15],"studies":[16],"have":[17],"exposed":[18],"that":[19,77,100,210],"NCMs":[20,45,68,138,192],"are":[21,81],"vulnerable":[22],"to":[23,95,160,168,184],"several":[24],"security":[25],"threats,":[26],"among":[27],"which":[28],"backdoor":[29,61,65,135,152],"attack":[30,136,219],"is":[31,37,78,101],"one":[32],"of":[33,75,177,188,223,249],"the":[34,49,57,96,112,124,174,178,186,211,241,255,264],"toughest.":[35],"It":[36],"usually":[38],"achieved":[39],"through":[40,139],"data":[41,140,158],"poisoning.":[42],"Specifically,":[43],"backdoored":[44],"work":[46],"normally":[47],"on":[48,56,240,254],"clean":[50,113,117],"example":[51,58],"but":[52],"produce":[53],"attacker-expected":[54],"output":[55],"injected":[59],"with":[60,164,263],"triggers.":[62],"However,":[63],"existing":[64],"attacks":[66],"against":[67,137],"face":[69],"two":[70,265],"significant":[71],"drawbacks:":[72],"1)":[73],"lack":[74],"stealthiness,":[76],"trigger":[79,103,147,166],"tokens":[80,104,167],"easily":[82],"detected":[83],"by":[84,214],"defense":[85],"techniques/humans":[86],"when":[87],"they":[88],"appear":[89,107],"excessive":[91],"numbers;":[92],"2)":[93],"damage":[94],"model\u2019s":[97],"normal":[98],"performance,":[99],"partial":[102,165],"may":[105,121],"frequently":[106],"as":[108],"benign":[109],"features":[110,145],"samples,":[114],"resulting":[115],"samples":[118,163],"containing":[119],"them":[120],"falsely":[122],"activate":[123],"backdoor.":[125],"To":[126],"address":[127],"these":[128],"drawbacks,":[129],"we":[130,155],"propose":[131],"misactivation-aware":[133,157],"stealthy":[134,151],"poisoning":[141,159],"called":[142],"MISNCM.":[143],"MISNCM":[144,189,215,232],"target-biased":[146],"generation,":[148],"thus":[149],"achieving":[150],"attacks.":[153],"Moreover,":[154],"utilize":[156],"create":[161],"calibration":[162],"reduce":[169],"false":[170],"activations":[171],"and":[172,203,227,246,258],"ensure":[173],"regular":[175],"performance":[176],"model.":[179],"We":[180],"conduct":[181],"comprehensive":[182],"experiments":[183],"evaluate":[185],"effectiveness":[187],"attacking":[191],"used":[193],"for":[194],"three":[195],"tasks:":[198],"defect":[199,256],"detection,":[200,202],"clone":[201,243],"authorship":[204,259],"attribution.":[205],"The":[206],"experimental":[207],"results":[208],"demonstrate":[209],"triggers":[212],"generated":[213],"achieve":[216],"an":[217,247],"average":[218,248],"success":[220],"rate":[221],"increase":[222],"12.67%":[224],"over":[225,229],"IR":[226],"8.38%":[228],"AFRAIDOOR.":[230],"Furthermore,":[231],"achieves":[233],"3.64%":[235],"improvement":[236,251],"F1":[238],"score":[239],"detection":[244,257],"task,":[245],"5.91%":[250],"accuracy":[253],"attribution":[260],"tasks,":[261],"compared":[262],"baselines.":[266]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":1}],"updated_date":"2025-12-12T23:16:27.785689","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}
