An Improved Scalable Mixed-Level Approach to Dynamic Analysis of C and C++ Programs

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“An Improved Scalable Mixed-Level Approach to Dynamic Analysis of C and C++ Programs” by Robert Andrew Rudd. Masters thesis, MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, (Cambridge, MA), Jan. 2010.

Abstract

In this thesis, I address the challenges of developing tools which use a mixed-level approach to dynamic binary analysis. The mixed-level approach combines advantages of both source-based and binary-based approaches to dynamic analysis, but comes with the added challenge of dealing with the implementation details of a specific implementation of the target language. This thesis describes the implementation of three existing tools which use the mixed-level approach: Fjalar, a C/C++ dynamic analysis framework, Kvasir, A C/C++ value profiling tool, and Dyncomp, a tool for inferring the abstract types of a C or C++ program.

Additionally, this thesis describes the steps I took in increasing the maintainability and portability of these tools. I investigated and documented platform specific dependencies; I documented the process of merging in upstream changes of Valgrind, the Dynamic Binary Instrumenter Fjalar is built on, to aid Fjalar in keeping in-sync with Valgrind bug-fixes; and I implemented a tool for debugging Dyncomp errors.

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BibTeX entry:

@mastersthesis{Rudd2010,
   author = {Robert Andrew Rudd},
   title = {An Improved Scalable Mixed-Level Approach to Dynamic Analysis
	of C and C++ Programs},
   school = {MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science},
   address = {Cambridge, MA},
   month = jan,
   year = {2010}
}