Work

Automatic Synthesis of Abstract Operators for eBPF

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: This paper proposes an approach to automatically synthesize sound and precise abstract operators for the static analyzer in the eBPF verifier. The eBPF verifier ensures that only safe user-defined programs are loaded into the kernel. An unsound operator can lead to unsafe programs being accepted, while an imprecise operator can cause safe programs to be rejected. Our approach starts by generating candidate operators using input-output examples tailored for the eBPF verifier's abstract operators and iteratively refines it for soundness and precision. Using this approach, we have generated more precise variants of existing operators. Our approach also generates numerous sound and unsound operators that can serve as test suites for existing eBPF verification and fuzzing frameworks.

DOI: 10.1145/3748355.3748361

Authors: Harishankar Vishwanathan, Matan Shachnai, Srinivas Narayana, Santosh Nagarakatte

Institution: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Language: English

Topic: Logic, programming, and type systems

Subfield: Artificial Intelligence

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Funder: Universitas Brawijaya

Award: G1405610225

OpenAlex ID: W4413311647

FWCI: 2.118

Cites: 14

Cited by: 2

Related to: 10