Abstract
In this paper, the results of an experimental study on the error sensitivities of application data are presented. We develop a portable software-implemented fault-injection (SWIFI) tool that, on top of performing single-bit flip fault injections and capturing their effects on application behavior, is also data-level aware and tracks the corrupted application data to report their high-level characteristics (usage type, size, user, memory space location). After extensive testing of NPB-serial (7.8M fault injections), we are able to characterize the sensitivities of data based on their high-level characteristics. Moreover, we conclude that application data are error sensitive in parts; depending on their type, they have distinct and wide less-sensitive bit ranges either at the MSBs or LSBs. Among other uses, such insight could drive the development of sensitivity-aware protection mechanisms of application data.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. This work is supported by EPSRC grant EP/M00113X/1 to the University of Edinburgh.
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Stefanakis, G., Nagarajan, V., Cintra, M. (2015). Understanding the Effects of Data Corruption on Application Behavior Based on Data Characteristics. In: Koornneef, F., van Gulijk, C. (eds) Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security. SAFECOMP 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9337. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24255-2_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24255-2_12
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