Automatic data manipulation to influence code paths

• US 8,453,115 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2007
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Murray, Norman S., Mealing, Wade A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Wei
• Assistant Examiner(s): BANES, ADAM RICHARD
• Application Number:
  US11/796,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20080270997A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,223 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3672 Test management

Abstract

Software development and testing systems use adaptive feedback to construct an input dataset for a target program. The target'"'"'s operation is monitored to identify significant events that correlate with the input dataset. Critical events are detected and reported to a user. Various methods of implementing the adaptive feedback, and systems that can be tested using these methods, are also described.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting, by a programmable processor, a first run profile of a computer program processing a first dataset;

altering, by the programmable processor, the first dataset to produce a second dataset;

collecting, by the programmable processor, a second run profile of the computer program processing the second dataset;

determining, by the programmable processor, whether there is a code path that is different between the second run profile and the first run profile;

when the code path is different between the second run profile and the first run profile, modifying, by the programmable processor, the second data set to produce a modified second data set; and

when the code path is not different between the second run profile and the first run profile, modifying, by the programmable processor, the first data set to produce a modified first data set, wherein the modified first data set is different from the second data set.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

repetitively preparing a subsequent dataset and collecting a run profile of the computer program processing the subsequent dataset.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

monitoring the subject program for an occurrence of a critical program event; and

reporting the critical program event.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the critical program event is one of a program crash, a privilege escalation violation or a disclosure of protected information.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein altering the first dataset comprises inserting, deleting or replacing one or more bytes of the first dataset.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein modifying one of the first dataset or the second data set comprises introducing a point mutation to the first dataset or the second dataset.

7. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a programmable processor cause the programmable processor to perform operations comprising:

collecting, by the programmable processor, a first run profile of a computer program processing a first data set;

collecting, by the programmable processor, a second run profile of the computer program processing the second dataset;

determining, by the programmable processor, whether there is a code path that is different between the second run profile and the first run profile; and

when the code path is different between the second run profile and the first run profile, modifying, by the programmable processor, the second data set to produce a modified second data set; and

when the code path is not different between the second run profile and the first run profile, modifying, by the programmable processor, the first data set to produce a modified first data set, wherein the modified first data set is different from the second data set.

8. The machine-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the operations further comprise:

monitoring the computer program for an occurrence of a critical program event; and

reporting the critical program event.

9. The machine-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the operations further comprise:

repeatedly invoking, by a computer system, a subject program;

providing an input dataset to the subject program on each invocation.

10. The machine-readable medium of claim 9 wherein providing the input dataset to the computer program comprises transmitting input data to the computer program via a network connection.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the computer program is to receive a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“

HTTP”

) request from a client via the network connection.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the computer program is to receive a database request from a client via the network connection.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the computer program is to receive a file storage request from a client via the network connection.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 9 wherein invoking comprises executing the program.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 9 wherein invoking comprises establishing a network connection to a long-lived program.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the long-lived program is to respond to sequential requests from a series of clients.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 9 wherein providing the input dataset to the subject program comprises at least one of:

providing input data as a command-line argument;

providing input data as an input file name;

providing input data as a sequence of bytes to be read by the program;

or

providing input data as an environment variable.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the critical program event is one of a program crash, a privilege escalation violation or a disclosure of protected information.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 7 wherein altering the first dataset comprises inserting, deleting or replacing one or more bytes of the first dataset.

17. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a programmable processor coupled to the memory, the programmable processor

collects a first run profile of a computer program processing a first data set, alters the first data set to produce a second data set, determines whether there is a code path that is different between the second run profile and the first run profile, when the code path is different between the second run profile and the first run profile, modify the second data set to produce a modified second data set; and

when the code path is not different between the second run profile and the first run profile, modify the first data set to produce a modified first data set, wherein the modified first data set is different from the second data set.