DiVM: Model checking with LLVM and graph memory

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce the concept of a virtual machine with graphorganised memory as a versatile backend for both explicit-state and abstractiondriven verification of software. Our virtual machine uses the LLVM IR as its instruction set, enriched with a small set of hypercalls. We show that the provided hypercalls are sufficient to implement a small operating system, which can then be linked with applications to provide a POSIX-compatible verification environment. Finally, we demonstrate the viability of the approach through a comparison with a more traditionally-designed LLVM model checker.

A Simulator for LLVM Bitcode

“…Our simulator is based on DiVM [10], an extension of the LLVM language that allows verification and analysis of a wider class of programs (a more detailed description of the DiVM extensions is given in Section 3.1). Since pure LLVM is retained as a subset of the DiVM language, the simulator can also transparently work with pure LLVM bitcode.…”

Extending DIVINE with Symbolic Verification Using SMT

“…DIVINE is an explicit-state model checker primarily designed to detect bugs in multithreaded programs [6]. Testing of multithreaded programs is a known hard problem because of nondeterminism in the execution caused by thread interleavings.…”

Reproducible Execution of POSIX Programs with DiOS

“…DiVM [16] is a verification-oriented virtual machine based on LLVM. A suite of tools based on DiVM implement a number of software verification techniques, including explicit-state, symbolic and abstraction-based model checking.…”