Dynamic Analysis Sanitizers reading

Sanitizers: AddressSanitizer, ThreadSanitizer, MemorySanitizer
- https://github.com/google/sanitizers
- https://github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki
Compilers
- Clang
  - AddressSanitizer - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/AddressSanitizer.html
  - DataFlowSanitizer - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/DataFlowSanitizer.html
  - Hardware-assisted AddressSanitizer Design Documentation - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/HardwareAssistedAddressSanitizerDesign.html
  - LeakSanitizer - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/LeakSanitizer.html
  - MemorySanitizer - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/MemorySanitizer.html
  - SanitizerCoverage - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/SanitizerCoverage.html
  - SanitizerStats - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/SanitizerStats.html
  - Sanitizer special case list - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/SanitizerSpecialCaseList.html
  - ThreadSanitizer - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ThreadSanitizer.html
  - UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer.html
- GCC
  - https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Instrumentation-Options.html
  - Address and Thread Sanitizers in GCC
    - https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2014/12/02/address-and-thread-sanitizers-gcc/
  - Useful GCC address sanitizer checks not enabled by default
    - https://kristerw.blogspot.com/2018/06/useful-gcc-address-sanitizer-checks-not.html
Adding Clang Sanitizers to a CMake Build
- https://genbattle.bitbucket.io/blog/2018/01/05/Dev-Santa-Claus-Part-1/
  - https://old.reddit.com/r/cpp/comments/7qzqlg/dev_santa_claus_pt1_adding_clang_sanitizers_to_a/
Creating an LLVM Sanitizer from Hopes and Dreams
- https://blog.trailofbits.com/2019/06/25/creating-an-llvm-sanitizer-from-hopes-and-dreams/
- llvm-sanitizer-tutorial and documentation
  - https://github.com/trailofbits/llvm-sanitizer-tutorial
GWP-ASan: Sampling heap memory error detection in-the-wild
- 2019; Vlad Tsyrklevich
- https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/Home/chromium-security/articles/gwp-asan
Kernel Concurrency Sanitizer (KCSAN)
- https://github.com/google/ktsan/wiki/KCSAN
- Concurrency bugs should fear the big bad data-race detector
  - part 1: https://lwn.net/Articles/816850/
  - part 2: https://lwn.net/Articles/816854/
Kernel Thread Sanitizer (KTSAN)
- https://github.com/google/ktsan
- https://github.com/google/ktsan/wiki

Research

A Preliminary Study on Open-Source Memory Vulnerability Detectors
- International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution, and Reengineering (SANER), ERA track, 2020
- Yu Nong and Haipeng Cai
- http://chapering.github.io/pubs/saner20-a.pdf
- AddressSanitizer, CBMC, DrMemory, MemorySanitizer, Valgrind
- Research questions:
  - RQ1: How effective are these detectors in terms of precision, recall, and accuracy?
  - RQ2: How efficient are the detectors in terms of their cost for detecting vulnerabilities?
  - RQ3: How do these detectors compare in terms of their detection accuracy?
AddressSanitizer: A Fast Address Sanity Checker
- 2012 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (ATC)
- Konstantin Serebryany, Derek Bruening, Alexander Potapenko, Dmitry Vyukov
- https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc12/technical-sessions/presentation/serebryany
- https://research.google/pubs/pub37752/
CastSan: Efficient Detection of Polymorphic C++ Object Type Confusions with LLVM
- European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS) 2018
- Muntean P., Wuerl S., Grossklags J., Eckert C.
- https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-99073-6_1
- https://www.docdroid.net/INWYBF7/castsan-esorics18.pdf
CUP: Comprehensive User-Space Protection for C/C++
- AsiaCCS 2018
- Nathan Burow, Derrick McKee, Scott A. Carr, Mathias Payer
- https://hexhive.github.io/publications/files/18AsiaCCS.pdf
- https://github.com/HexHive/CUP
DangSan: Scalable Use-after-free Detection
- European Conference on Computer Systems (EuroSys) 2017
- Erik van der Kouwe, Vinod Nigade, Cristiano Giuffrida
- http://www.cs.vu.nl/~giuffrida/papers/dangsan_eurosys17.pdf
- https://github.com/vusec/dangsan
EffectiveSan: Type and Memory Error Detection using Dynamically Typed C/C++
- PLDI 2018
- Gregory J. Duck, Roland H. C. Yap
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.06125
- https://github.com/GJDuck/EffectiveSan
- https://pldi18.sigplan.org/event/pldi-2018-papers-effectivesan-type-and-memory-error-detection-using-dynamically-typed-c-c-
HexType: Efficient Detection of Type Confusion Errors for C++
- ACM Conference on Computer and Communication Security (CCS) 2017
- Yuseok Jeon, Priyam Biswas, Scott A. Carr, Byoungyoung Lee, and Mathias Payer.
- Slides (PDF): http://nebelwelt.net/publications/files/1734c3-presentation.pdf
- Paper (PDF): https://nebelwelt.net/publications/files/17CCS.pdf
- 34C3 (2017)
  - https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8848-type_confusion_discovery_abuse_and_protection
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbglFfkRYQs
- HexType: Efficient Detection of Type Confusion Errors for C++
  - https://github.com/HexHive/HexType
HexVASAN: Venerable Variadic Vulnerabilities Vanquished
- Usenix Security Symposium 2017
- Priyam Biswas, Alessandro Di Federico, Scott A. Carr, Prabhu Rajasekaran, Stijn Volckaert, Yeoul Na, Michael Franz, and Mathias Payer.
- https://nebelwelt.net/publications/files/17SEC.pdf
- https://nebelwelt.net/publications/files/17SEC-presentation.pdf
- https://github.com/HexHive/HexVASAN
MemorySanitizer: fast detector of uninitialized memory use in C++
- Code Generation and Optimization (CGO) 2015
- Evgeniy Stepanov and Konstantin Serebryany
- https://research.google.com/pubs/archive/43308.pdf
PartiSan: Fast and Flexible Sanitization via Run-time Partitioning
- Research in Attacks, Intrusions and Defenses (RAID) 2018
- Julian Lettner, Dokyung Song, Taemin Park, Stijn Volckaert, Per Larsen, Michael Franz
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.08108
TypeSanitizer: Practical Type Confusion Detection
- Computer and Communications Security (CCS) 2016
- Istvan Haller, Yuseok Jeon, Hui Peng, Mathias Payer, Herbert Bos, Cristiano Giuffrida, Erik van der Kouwe
- https://nebelwelt.net/publications/files/16CCS2.pdf
- TypeSan checks casts in C++ code - code released for CCS 2016
  - https://github.com/vusec/typesan

Projects

QASan: QEMU-AddressSanitizer
- https://github.com/andreafioraldi/qasan
- Sanitized Emulation with QASan
  - https://andreafioraldi.github.io/articles/2019/12/20/sanitized-emulation-with-qasan.html
sanitizers-cmake: CMake modules to help use sanitizers
- https://github.com/arsenm/sanitizers-cmake
TypeART: LLVM-based type and memory allocation tracking sanitizer
- https://github.com/tudasc/TypeART
- Compiler-aided Type Tracking for Correctness Checking of MPI Applications
  - International Workshop on Software Correctness for HPC Applications (Correctness) 2018
  - Alexander Hück, Jan-Patrick Lehr, Sebastian Kreutzer, Joachim Protze, Christian Terboven, Christian Bischof, Matthias S. Müller
  - https://doi.org/10.1109/Correctness.2018.00011
  - https://correctness-workshop.github.io/2018/papers/lehr.pdf

Talks

AddressSanitizer, ThreadSanitizer and MemorySanitizer -- Dynamic Testing Tools for C++
- GTAC 2013; Kostya Serebryany
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2C2lP8_tNE
Address and Thread Sanitizer in GCC: State of the Onion
- GNU Tools Cauldron 2013; Dodji Seketeli
- https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/cauldron2013?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=asan.pdf
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41_WZk6AePY
C++ Sanitizers
- C++ Weekly; Ep. 84 (2017)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB6NPkB4YVs
Debugging with LLVM: A quick introduction to LLDB and LLVM sanitizers
- FOSDEM 2020
- Andrzej Warzynski; Graham Hunter
- https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/debugging_with_llvm/
Finding races and memory errors with LLVM instrumentation
- 2011 LLVM Developers’ Meeting; Konstantin Serebryany
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqQTUtV6GY
Finding races and memory errors with compiler instrumentation: AddressSanitizer, ThreadSanitizer
- GNU Tools Cauldron 2012; Konstantin Serebryany, Dmitry Vyukov
- https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/cauldron2012?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=kcc.pdf
- https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/cauldron2012#Finding_races_and_memory_errors_with_GCC_instrumentation_.28AddressSanitizer.29
MemorySanitizer, ThreadSanitizer: Scalable run-time detection of uninitialized memory reads and data races with LLVM instrumentation
- 2012 LLVM Developers’ Meeting; Kostya Serebryany
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDgttiIvMxA
News from Sanitizers
- GNU Tools Cauldron 2014; Evgeniy Stepanov, Kostya Serebryany
- https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QG2qlzpxlsdDsX4uHhTLWAoUmbzbhedFMoMvviud0Us
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek7z_oC0dak
The Type Sanitizer: Free Yourself from -fno-strict-aliasing
- 2017 LLVM Developers’ Meeting; Hal Finkel
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAXJeN7k32Y
ThreadSanitizer APIs for external libraries
- 2017 LLVM Developers’ Meeting; Kuba Mracek
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J9bMpqfc7A

Tags: reading language tool library native llvm

Last modified 13 August 2025

Dynamic Analysis Sanitizers reading

Readings on software sanitizers.

Research

Projects

Talks