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8 stories in the last 30d

Towards Scalable and Cost-Efficient Vulnerability Detection: A Study on Automatic Query Generation

A study finds LLM-synthesized CodeQL queries improve average F1-score by 82% over baseline queries, offering scalable vulnerability detection versus direct LLM scanning.

Researchers conducted an empirical study evaluating whether LLMs can synthesize executable CodeQL queries from National Vulnerability Database vulnerability data. LLM-generated queries significantly enhanced baseline CodeQL suites, yielding an 82% improvement in average F1-score across a diverse set of real-world vulnerabilities. A cost-benefit analysis shows direct LLM-based scanning of entire repositories is often computationally and financially prohibitive, while LLM query synthesis offers a scalable and cost-effective alternative for large-scale vulnerability detection.

arXiv cs.CR · 7d agoResearch1

s-MDM: Generative Virtualization of Multi-Device Hardware Variations for Portable DL-SCA

Researchers present s-MDM, a generative framework synthesizing virtual device profiles to improve cross-device portability of deep learning side-channel analysis.

The poster introduces the Synthetic Multiple Device Model (s-MDM), a zero-target-trace generative framework addressing performance degradation of deep learning side-channel analysis on unseen hardware. It combines a structured cVAE generator, Walsh-Hadamard leakage anchors, continuous style modulation, and decoupled leakage-style-domain critics to synthesize virtual source-device profiles offline. Benchmarked on 32-bit AES_PTv2 traces, s-MDM achieves consistently low key rank on layout- and acquisition-shifted Pinata targets where physical baselines are unstable.

arXiv cs.CR · 20h agoResearch

Echo: Learning-based Matching Decompilation using Trusted Back Translation

Researchers introduce Echo, a matching decompiler using trusted back-translation that roughly doubles exact-match rates and outperforms GPT-5.6 and Codex on Mirai.

Echo performs matching decompilation by using compilation as trusted feedback for iterative search: a domain-specific model generates candidate code and compilation configurations, which are recompiled, compared at assembly level, and repaired via rule-based rewriting, neural refinement, and reasoning-based refinement. On function-level benchmarks, Echo produces 2.43x more exact matches than the strongest baseline and the highest structural similarity to ground truth. On the Mirai malware binary, it matches 2.75x and 7.4x as many functions as GPT-5.6 and Codex, respectively.

arXiv cs.CR · 20h agoResearch1

IntentFuzz: A Protocol-Aware Fuzzer for Automated Invariant Violation Detection in Intent-Based Cross-Chain Bridges

IntentFuzz protocol-aware fuzzer recovers bridge structure from unannotated Solidity and confirmed 22 invariant violations across 24 real-world deployments.

IntentFuzz formalizes a taxonomy separating invariant violations from settlement exposures in intent-based cross-chain bridges, then recovers a bridge's intent structure and deposit/fill function roles from unannotated Solidity source. It classified deposit and fill functions with 100% recall and 82% combined precision, and achieved 100% recall and precision on 23 planted-bug mutants. Across 24 real-world deployments it confirmed 17 genuine invariant violations with heuristic-only input generation, rising to 22 with its LLM-assisted tier, spanning eight vulnerable GitHub repositories with findings reproducible against public deployed bytecode.

arXiv cs.CR · 5d agoResearch1

On Identifying Sound Conditions for Frontrunning Resistance

Researchers formally define smart-contract frontrunning resistance, showing 55% of 393 audited vulnerabilities escape state-of-the-art detection, and find two undisclosed Ethereum flaws.

The paper gives the first formal definition of frontrunning vulnerability for smart contracts, grounded in how honest users interact with contracts rather than contract code alone. In a large-scale study of 287 smart contract audits, 55% of the 393 vulnerabilities reported by leading auditors fall outside the scope of state-of-the-art dynamic detection criteria. The authors present a sound algorithm for synthesizing secure interaction conditions and apply it to real-world contracts, uncovering previously undiscovered vulnerabilities in two Ethereum contracts.

arXiv cs.CR · 6d agoResearch

The Machines Are Calling: Measuring Automated and Synthetic Voices in Unwanted Inbound Calls

Voice honeypot measurement finds at least 26.9% of unwanted US inbound calls open with machine voices, 13.1% with fresh synthetic speech.

An interactive voice honeypot using language-model personas on real US numbers recorded 10,987 calls over 66 days, following the FCC's February 2024 ruling that AI-generated voices fall under the TCPA. Of 7,233 greeted calls, 13.8% opened with recordings replayed from other calls and 13.1% with fresh audio labeled synthetic, with replays making up 45% of the detector's flagged rate. Synthetic openings concentrated in lead-generation spam (33.8%) rather than fraud (21.1%), and only 0.44% of calls disclosed automation. Prevalence tracked how long a bait number had circulated, and campaigns outlasted their numbers, with one synthetic voice serving nine campaigns.

arXiv cs.CR · 7d agoResearch

Measuring the Security of the Evolving Software Supply Chain: a Research Agenda

Researchers propose a unified cross-ecosystem measurement agenda for software supply chain security, targeting dependency modeling and AI-generated dependency patterns.

The paper argues that existing quantitative measurement and vulnerability management approaches for software supply chain security are fragmented and ecosystem-specific, limiting comparable risk assessments. It lays out a research agenda starting with a Systematization of Knowledge to expose gaps in dependency modeling, transitive dependency treatment, and real-world exploitability of vulnerabilities. It further warns that AI-assisted development with coding LLMs will create dependency patterns not captured by traditional Software Composition Analysis tools, motivating a rethink of dependency modeling.

arXiv cs.CR · 8d agoResearch

When LLM Decompilers Recompile More and Preserve Less

Researchers show LLM decompiler outputs can recompile yet diverge behaviorally, proposing the Decompile-Diverge fuzzing oracle to catch hidden changes.

The paper demonstrates that LLM-based decompilers can produce code that recompiles and passes all shipped tests yet diverges on other legitimate inputs—4.9% overall and up to 13% for one system—and can make disclosed vulnerabilities vanish without a visible crash. Across 300 real GitHub functions and 287 CVE-grounded functions, a refinement LLM lifted Ghidra's build rate from 75% to 90% while Matched rate fell from 74% to 62%, with up to one tenth of vulnerabilities showing Crash Absence. Decompile-Diverge detects these gaps by synthesizing drivers, growing fuzzing corpora from the reference, and rerunning decompiled code on identical inputs.

arXiv cs.CR · 12d agoResearch