DIAR: Removing Uninteresting Bytes from Seeds in Software Fuzzing

TL;DR

DIAR is a technique that enhances software fuzzing efficiency by identifying and removing uninteresting bytes from initial seeds, leading to faster path discovery and higher coverage.

Contribution

This paper introduces DIAR, a novel method for reducing seed size based on coverage, improving fuzzing performance by focusing on relevant bytes.

Findings

Fuzzing campaigns with reduced seeds find new paths faster.

Reduced seeds lead to higher overall coverage.

DIAR improves resource efficiency in fuzzing.

Abstract

Software fuzzing mutates bytes in the test seeds to explore different behaviors of the program under test. Initial seeds can have great impact on the performance of a fuzzing campaign. Mutating a lot of uninteresting bytes in a large seed wastes the fuzzing resources. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of our approach that aims to improve the performance of fuzzers through identifying and removing uninteresting bytes in the seeds. In particular, we present DIAR, a technique that reduces the size of the seeds based on their coverage. Our preliminary results suggest fuzzing campaigns that start with reduced seeds, find new paths faster, and can produce higher coverage overall.