Shadow Symbolic Execution with Java PathFinder

TL;DR

This paper extends shadow symbolic execution to Java by integrating it with Java PathFinder, enabling effective regression testing through divergence detection in Java programs.

Contribution

It introduces a novel extension of shadow symbolic execution for Java, facilitating divergence detection and regression testing within the Java PathFinder framework.

Findings

Successfully generated test inputs exposing divergences in Java programs.

Extended JPF to support shadow symbolic execution on Java bytecode.

Demonstrated effectiveness on multiple JPF test classes.

Abstract

Regression testing ensures that a software system when it evolves still performs correctly and that the changes introduce no unintended side-effects. However, the creation of regression test cases that show divergent behavior needs a lot of effort. A solution is the idea of shadow symbolic execution, originally implemented based on KLEE for programs written in C, which takes a unifed version of the old and the new program and performs symbolic execution guided by concrete values to explore the changed behavior. In this work, we apply the idea of shadow symbolic execution to Java programs and, hence, provide an extension of the Java PathFinder (JPF) project to perform shadow symbolic execution on Java bytecode. The extension has been applied on several subjects from the JPF test classes where it successfully generated test inputs that expose divergences relevant for regression testing.