QuickFuzz: an automatic random fuzzer for common file formats

Abstract

Fuzzing is a technique that involves testing programs using invalid or erroneous inputs. Most fuzzers require a set of valid inputs as a starting point, in which mutations are then introduced. QuickFuzz is a fuzzer that leverages QuickCheck-style random test-case generationto automatically test programs that manipulate common file formats by fuzzing. We rely on existing Haskell implementations of file-format-handling libraries found on Hackage, the community-driven Haskell code repository. We have tried QuickFuzz in the wild and found that the approach is effective in discovering vulnerabilities in real-world implementations of browsers, image processing utilities and file compressors among others. In addition, we introduce a mechanism to automatically derive random generators for the types representing these formats. QuickFuzz handles most well-known image and media formats, and can be used to test programs and libraries written in any language.