CompCert is a formally verified compiler that generates compact and efficient code for a large subset of the C language. However, CompCert foregoes using SSA, an intermediate representation employed by many compilers that enables writing simpler, faster optimizers. In fact, it has remained an open problem to verify formally an SSA-based compiler. We report on a formally verified, SSA-based, middle-end for CompCert. In addition to providing a formally verified SSA-based middle-end, we address two problems raised by Leroy in 2009: giving an intuitive formal semantics to SSA, and leveraging its global properties to reason locally about program optimizations.

SAFE is a clean-slate design for a highly secure computer system, with pervasive mechanisms for tracking and limiting information flows. At the lowest level, the SAFE hardware supports fine-grained programmable tags, with efficient and flexible propagation and combination of tags as instructions are executed. The operating system virtualizes these generic facilities to present an information-flow abstract machine that allows user programs to label sensitive data with rich confidentiality policies. We present a formal, machine-checked model of the key hardware and software mechanisms used to dynamically control information flow in SAFE and an end-to-end proof of noninterference for this model.We use a refinement proof methodology to propagate the noninterference property of the abstract machine down to the concrete machine level. We use an intermediate layer in the refinement chain that factors out the details of the information-flow control policy and devise a code generator for compiling such information-flow policies into low-level monitor code. Finally, we verify the correctness of this generator using a dedicated Hoare logic that abstracts from low-level machine instructions into a reusable set of verified structured code generators.

Abstract. Tools for analysing secure information flow are almost exclusively based on ideas going back to Denning's work from the 70's. This approach embodies an imperfect notion of security which turns a blind eye to information flows which are encoded in the termination behaviour of a program. In exchange for this weakness many more programs are deemed "secure", using conditions which are easy to check. Previously it was thought that such leaks are limited to at most one bit per run. Recent work by Askarov et al (ESORICS'08) offers some bad news and some good news: the bad news is that for programs which perform output, the amount of information leaked by a Denning style analysis is not bounded; the good news is that if secrets are chosen to be sufficiently large and sufficiently random then they cannot be effectively leaked at all. The problem addressed in this paper is that secrets cannot always be made sufficiently large or sufficiently random. Contrast, for example, an encryption key with an "hasHIV"-field of a patient record. In recognition of this we develop a notion of secret-sensitive noninterference in which "small" secrets are handled more carefully than "big" ones. We illustrate the idea with a type system which combines a liberal Denning-style analysis with a more restrictive system according to the nature of the secrets at hand.

Abstract. Static analysis is a powerful technique for automatic verification of programs but raises major engineering challenges when developing a full-fledged analyzer for a realistic language such as Java. Efficiency and precision of such a tool rely partly on low level components which only depend on the syntactic structure of the language and therefore should not be redesigned for each implementation of a new static analysis. This paper describes the Sawja library: a static analysis framework fully compliant with Java 6 which provides OCaml modules for efficiently manipulating Java bytecode programs. We present the main features of the library, including i) efficient functional data-structures for representing program with implicit sharing and lazy parsing, ii) an intermediate stack-less representation, and iii) fast computation and manipulation of complete programs. We provide experimental evaluations of the different features with respect to time, memory and precision.

The problem of computing dominators in a control flow graph is central to numerous modern compiler optimizations. Many efficient algorithms have been proposed in the litterature, but mechanizing the correctness of the most sophisticated algorithms is still considered as too hard problems, and to this date, verified compilers use less optimized implementations. In contrast, production compilers, like GCC or LLVM, implement the classic, efficient Lengauer-Tarjan algorithm [12], to compute dominator trees. And subsequent optimization phases can then determine whether a CFG node dominates another node in constant time by using their respective depth-first search numbers in the dominator tree. In this work, we aim at integrating such techniques in verified compilers. We present a formally verified validator of untrusted dominator trees, on top of which we implement and prove correct a fast dominance test following these principles. We conduct our formal development in the Coq proof assistant, and integrate it in the middle-end of the CompCertSSA verified compiler. We also provide experimental results showing performance improvement over previous formalizations.

The Static Single Assignment (SSA) form is a predominant technology in modern compilers, enabling powerful and fast program optimizations. Despite its great success in the implementation of production compilers, it is only very recently that this technique has been introduced in verified compilers. As of today, few evidence exist on that, in this context, it also allows faster and simpler optimizations. This work builds on the CompCertSSA verified compiler (an SSA branch of the verified CompCert C compiler). We implement and verify two prevailing SSA optimizations: Sparse Conditional Constant Propagation and Global Value Numbering. For both transformations, we mechanically prove their soundness in the Coq proof assistant. Both optimization proofs are embedded in a single sparse optimization framework, factoring out many of the dominance-based reasoning steps required in proofs of SSA-based optimizations. Our experimental evaluations indicate both a better precision, and a significant compilation time speedup.

The Sea of Nodes intermediate representation was introduced by Cliff Click in the mid 90s as an enhanced Static Single Assignment (SSA) form. It improves on the initial SSA form by relaxing the total order on instructions in basic blocks into explicit data and control dependencies. This makes programs more flexible to optimize. This graph-based representation is now used in many industrial-strength compilers, such as HotSpot or Graal. While the SSA form is now well understood from a semantic perspective-even formally verified optimizing compilers use it in their middle-end-very few semantic studies have been conducted about the Sea of Nodes. This paper presents a simple but rigorous formal semantics for a Sea of Nodes form. It comprises a denotational component to express data computation, and an operational component to express control flow. We then prove a fundamental, dominance-based semantic property on Sea of Nodes programs which determines the regions of the graph where the values of nodes are preserved. Finally, we apply our results to prove the semantic correctness of a redundant zero-check elimination optimization. All the necessary semantic properties have been mechanically verified in the Coq proof assistant.

Concurrent garbage collection algorithms are an emblematic challenge in the area of concurrent program verification. In this paper, we address this problem by proposing a mechanized proof methodology based on the popular RelyGuarantee (RG) proof technique. We design a specific compiler intermediate representation (IR) with strong type guarantees, dedicated support for abstract concurrent data structures, and high-level iterators on runtime internals. In addition, we define an RG program logic supporting an incremental proof methodology where annotations and invariants can be progressively enriched. We formalize the IR, the proof system, and prove the soundness of the methodology in the Coq proof assistant. Equipped with this IR, we prove a fully concurrent garbage collector where mutators never have to wait for the collector.