Accelerating Fuzzing through Prefix-Guided Execution

Explore a conference talk on accelerating fuzzing through prefix-guided execution presented at OOPSLA1 2023. Learn about a novel approach to improve coverage-guided fuzzing by introducing prefix-guided execution (PGE), which aims to determine if a test increases code coverage without fully executing it. Discover how PGE leverages partial test execution to infer coverage increases and applies early termination for tests unlikely to improve coverage. Examine the implementation of AFL++-PGE, a prototype built on top of AFL++, and its evaluation on the MAGMA benchmark. Gain insights into how this technique finds more bugs, discovers them faster, and achieves higher coverage compared to traditional methods. Understand the potential of prefix-guided execution to benefit the entire AFL-based family of fuzzers and its implications for software testing and vulnerability discovery.