{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4402443965","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3650212.3680387","title":"An Empirical Examination of Fuzzer Mutator Performance","display_name":"An Empirical Examination of Fuzzer Mutator Performance","publication_year":2024,"publication_date":"2024-09-11","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4402443965","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3650212.3680387"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3650212.3680387","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3650212.3680387","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 33rd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis","raw_type":"proceedings-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/A5067333353","display_name":"James Kukucka","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I162714631","display_name":"George Mason University","ror":"https://ror.org/02jqj7156","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I162714631"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"James Kukucka","raw_affiliation_strings":["George Mason University, Fairfax, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9847-7897","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"George Mason University, Fairfax, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I162714631"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5060601788","display_name":"Lu\u00eds Pina","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4585-5259"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I39422238","display_name":"University of Illinois Chicago","ror":"https://ror.org/02mpq6x41","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I39422238"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Lu\u00eds Pina","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4585-5259","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I39422238"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5037613705","display_name":"Paul Ammann","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I162714631","display_name":"George Mason University","ror":"https://ror.org/02jqj7156","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I162714631"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Paul Ammann","raw_affiliation_strings":["George Mason University, Fairfax, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8470-2917","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"George Mason University, Fairfax, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I162714631"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5053080959","display_name":"Jonathan Bell","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1187-9298"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I12912129","display_name":"Northeastern University","ror":"https://ror.org/04t5xt781","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I12912129"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Jonathan Bell","raw_affiliation_strings":["Northeastern University, Boston, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1187-9298","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Northeastern University, Boston, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I12912129"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":4,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":1.7246,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":4,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.8662394,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":97,"max":98},"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"1631","last_page":"1642"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10743","display_name":"Software Testing and Debugging Techniques","score":0.9943000078201294,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1712","display_name":"Software"},"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/T10743","display_name":"Software Testing and Debugging Techniques","score":0.9943000078201294,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1712","display_name":"Software"},"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/T11241","display_name":"Advanced Malware Detection Techniques","score":0.9833999872207642,"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/T10533","display_name":"Teaching and Learning Programming","score":0.9724000096321106,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1706","display_name":"Computer Science Applications"},"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/fuzz-testing","display_name":"Fuzz testing","score":0.7858706712722778},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/empirical-examination","display_name":"Empirical examination","score":0.6715210676193237},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/computer-science","display_name":"Computer science","score":0.6100866794586182},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/reliability-engineering","display_name":"Reliability engineering","score":0.3723001480102539},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/engineering","display_name":"Engineering","score":0.19095948338508606},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/programming-language","display_name":"Programming language","score":0.15011492371559143},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/business","display_name":"Business","score":0.09563145041465759},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software","display_name":"Software","score":0.09436866641044617}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C111065885","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1189053","display_name":"Fuzz testing","level":3,"score":0.7858706712722778},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2993069335","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2155640","display_name":"Empirical examination","level":2,"score":0.6715210676193237},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.6100866794586182},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C200601418","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2193887","display_name":"Reliability engineering","level":1,"score":0.3723001480102539},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C127413603","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11023","display_name":"Engineering","level":0,"score":0.19095948338508606},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C199360897","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9143","display_name":"Programming language","level":1,"score":0.15011492371559143},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C144133560","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4830453","display_name":"Business","level":0,"score":0.09563145041465759},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777904410","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7397","display_name":"Software","level":2,"score":0.09436866641044617},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C162118730","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1128453","display_name":"Actuarial science","level":1,"score":0.0}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/3650212.3680387","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3650212.3680387","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 33rd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis","raw_type":"proceedings-article"}],"best_oa_location":null,"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":25,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W1548806133","https://openalex.org/W1596936080","https://openalex.org/W2128985333","https://openalex.org/W2172075419","https://openalex.org/W2295658119","https://openalex.org/W2515236103","https://openalex.org/W2535617737","https://openalex.org/W2613534458","https://openalex.org/W2961870034","https://openalex.org/W2963350015","https://openalex.org/W2964241064","https://openalex.org/W3082737479","https://openalex.org/W3102086861","https://openalex.org/W3165177337","https://openalex.org/W3194771370","https://openalex.org/W4284694822","https://openalex.org/W4284705569","https://openalex.org/W4284706927","https://openalex.org/W4289038676","https://openalex.org/W4307205415","https://openalex.org/W4317536056","https://openalex.org/W4319736431","https://openalex.org/W4387225919","https://openalex.org/W4402262144","https://openalex.org/W6892923660"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W4391375266","https://openalex.org/W2748952813","https://openalex.org/W2511770387","https://openalex.org/W3120811337","https://openalex.org/W3203597304","https://openalex.org/W4385301282","https://openalex.org/W2990186179","https://openalex.org/W4248424560","https://openalex.org/W3023977444","https://openalex.org/W4210660460"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Over":[0],"the":[1,66,72,79,93,125,137,144,149,155,211,240],"past":[2],"decade,":[3],"hundreds":[4],"of":[5,38,74,98,114,136,139,157,160,198,205,220],"fuzzers":[6,34,258],"have":[7],"been":[8],"published":[9],"in":[10,214,257],"top-tier":[11],"security":[12],"and":[13,29,45,183,222,238,261],"software":[14],"engineering":[15],"conferences.":[16],"Fuzzers":[17],"are":[18,57,63,101,121],"used":[19],"to":[20,43,65,85,103,117,119,180,210,234,242,251,265,271,275],"automatically":[21],"test":[22],"programs,":[23],"ideally":[24],"creating":[25],"high-coverage":[26],"input":[27],"corpora":[28],"finding":[30,192],"bugs.":[31,225],"Modern":[32],"\u201cgreybox\u201d":[33],"evolve":[35],"a":[36,170,196],"corpus":[37],"inputs":[39,44,50,55,215],"by":[40,143],"applying":[41],"mutations":[42,97,116],"then":[46],"executing":[47],"those":[48,161],"new":[49,61],"while":[51],"collecting":[52],"coverage.":[53],"New":[54],"that":[56,216],"\u201cinteresting\u201d":[58],"(e.g.":[59],"reveal":[60,223],"coverage)":[62],"saved":[64],"corpus.":[67],"Given":[68],"their":[69],"non-deterministic":[70],"nature,":[71],"impact":[73,156],"each":[75],"design":[76,88,255,273],"decision":[77],"on":[78],"fuzzer\u2019s":[80],"performance":[81],"can":[82],"be":[83],"difficult":[84],"predict.":[86],"Some":[87],"decisions":[89,256,274],"(e.g.,":[90,110],"\u201d":[91,111],"Should":[92],"fuzzer":[94,126,241,263],"perform":[95],"deterministic":[96],"inputs?":[99],"\u201d)":[100],"exposed":[102],"end-users":[104],"as":[105],"configuration":[106,268],"flags,":[107],"but":[108],"others":[109],"What":[112],"kinds":[113],"random":[115],"apply":[118],"inputs?\u201d)":[120],"typically":[122],"baked":[123],"into":[124],"code":[127,221],"itself.":[128],"This":[129],"paper":[130],"describes":[131],"our":[132],"over":[133],"12.5-CPU-year":[134],"evaluation":[135],"set":[138],"mutation":[140,202],"operators":[141,203],"employed":[142],"popular":[145],"AFL++":[146],"fuzzer,":[147],"including":[148],"havoc":[150],"phase,":[151],"splicing,":[152],"and,":[153],"exploring":[154],"adjusting":[158],"some":[159],"unexposed":[162],"configurations.":[163],"In":[164],"this":[165],"experience":[166],"paper,":[167],"we":[168],"propose":[169],"methodology":[171],"for":[172,249],"determining":[173],"different":[174,218,224],"fuzzers\u2019":[175],"behavioral":[176],"diversity":[177],"with":[178],"respect":[179],"branch":[181],"coverage":[182,237],"bug":[184],"detection":[185],"using":[186],"rigorous":[187],"statistical":[188],"methods.":[189],"Our":[190],"key":[191],"is":[193,229],"that,":[194],"across":[195],"range":[197],"targets,":[199],"disabling":[200,230],"certain":[201,231],"(some":[204],"which":[206],"were":[207],"previously":[208],"\u201cbaked-in\u201d":[209],"fuzzer)":[212],"resulted":[213],"cover":[217],"lines":[219],"A":[226],"surprising":[227],"result":[228],"mutators":[232],"leads":[233],"more":[235,244,259,267],"diverse":[236],"allows":[239],"find":[243],"bugs":[245],"faster.":[246],"We":[247],"call":[248],"researchers":[250],"investigate":[252],"seemingly":[253],"simple":[254],"thoroughly":[260],"encourage":[262],"developers":[264],"expose":[266],"parameters":[269],"pertaining":[270],"these":[272],"end":[276],"users.":[277]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":4}],"updated_date":"2026-06-11T09:08:48.828518","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}