Relational Constraint Driven Test Case Synthesis for Web Applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces a relational constraint-based method for automatically generating test cases for web applications by modeling servlets as relational transducers and using symbolic analysis to reach specific database states.

Contribution

It presents a novel synthesis algorithm that automates test case generation and can also be adapted for security testing to discover workflow attacks.

Findings

Successfully generates test sequences for web app coverage

Can identify potential security vulnerabilities in workflows

Uses static analysis and symbolic computation for precision

Abstract

This paper proposes a relational constraint driven technique that synthesizes test cases automatically for web applications. Using a static analysis, servlets can be modeled as relational transducers, which manipulate backend databases. We present a synthesis algorithm that generates a sequence of HTTP requests for simulating a user session. The algorithm relies on backward symbolic image computation for reaching a certain database state, given a code coverage objective. With a slight adaptation, the technique can be used for discovering workflow attacks on web applications.