Program Feature-Based Benchmarking for Fuzz Testing

<jats:p>Fuzzing is a powerful software testing technique renowned for its effectiveness in identifying software vulnerabilities. Traditional fuzzing evaluations typically focus on overall fuzzer performance across a set of target programs, yet few benchmarks consider how fine-grained program features influence fuzzing effectiveness. To bridge this gap, we introduce FeatureBench, a novel benchmark designed to generate programs with configurable, fine-grained program features to enhance fuzzing evaluations. We reviewed 25 recent grey-box fuzzing studies, extracting 7 program features related to control-flow and data-flow that can impact fuzzer performance. Using these features, we generated a benchmark consisting of 153 programs controlled by 10 fine-grained configurable parameters. We evaluated 11 fuzzers using this benchmark, with each fuzzer representing either distinct claimed improvements or serving as a widely used baseline in fuzzing evaluations. The results indicate that fuzzer performance varies significantly based on the program features and their strengths, highlighting the importance of incorporating program characteristics into fuzzing evaluations.</jats:p>