Integrated Java Bytecode Verification

doi:10.1016/j.entcs.2005.01.020

Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science

Volume 131, 24 May 2005, Pages 27-38

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Abstract

Existing Java verifiers perform an iterative data-flow analysis to discover the unambiguous type of values stored on the stack or in registers. Our novel verification algorithm uses abstract interpretation to obtain definition/use information for each register and stack location in the program, which in turn is used to transform the program into Static Single Assignment form. In SSA, verification is reduced to simple type compatibility checking between the definition type of each SSA variable and the type of each of its uses. Inter-adjacent transitions of a value through stack and registers are no longer verified explicitly. This integrated approach is more efficient than traditional bytecode verification but still as safe as strict verification, as overall program correctness can be induced once the data flow from each definition to all associated uses is known to be type-safe.

Keywords

abstract interpretation

verification

optimization

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¹: This research effort was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grants TC-0209163 and ITR-0205712 and by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under agreement N00014-01-1-0854. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright annotation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, or any other agency of the U.S. Government.