Existential Label Flow Inference Via CFL Reachability

TitleExistential Label Flow Inference Via CFL Reachability
Publication TypeBook Chapters
Year of Publication2006
AuthorsPratikakis P, Foster JS, Hicks MW
EditorYi K
Book TitleStatic AnalysisStatic Analysis
Series TitleLecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume4134
Pagination88 - 106
PublisherSpringer Berlin / Heidelberg
ISBN Number978-3-540-37756-6
Abstract

In programming languages, existential quantification is useful for describing relationships among members of a structured type. For example, we may have a list in which there exists some mutual exclusion lock l in each list element such that l protects the data stored in that element. With this information, a static analysis can reason about the relationship between locks and locations in the list even when the precise identity of the lock and/or location is unknown. To facilitate the construction of such static analyses, this paper presents a context-sensitive label flow analysis algorithm with support for existential quantification. Label flow analysis is a core part of many static analysis systems. Following Rehof et al, we use context-free language (CFL) reachability to develop an efficient O(n 3) label flow inference algorithm. We prove the algorithm sound by reducing its derivations to those in a system based on polymorphically-constrained types, in the style of Mossin. We have implemented a variant of our analysis as part of a data race detection tool for C programs.

URLhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/11823230_7