Constraint-based Analysis of Security Properties

Model checking is a verification method developed to
test finite-state systems (e.g., communication
protocols, hardware circuits) against properties
expressed as formulas in temporal logic. The method
has proved successful in finding design flaws in many
real-life applications. Nevertheless,
models especially of software systems often tend to
have unbounded number of states. Traditionally,
verifying such systems using model checkers requires
first abstracting the systems into finite-state
models. We introduce a unified, automata-based
representation for infinite-state systems and linear
temporal logic properties, and describe a
model-checking technique for such specifications. We
exploit constraint solving and logic programming to
implement an efficient and robust infrastructure for
our model checker, and apply this implementation to
analyze vulnerabilities of computer systems and
configurations.

Autorentext
Beata Sarna-Starosta holds a Master's degree in Linguistics from Warsaw University, Poland, and a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA. Her professional interests focus on the design, implementation, and applications of logic-based reasoning systems.

Klappentext
Model checking is a verification method developed to test finite-state systems (e.g., communication protocols, hardware circuits) against properties expressed as formulas in temporal logic. The method has proved successful in finding design flaws in many real-life applications. Nevertheless, models-especially of software systems-often tend to have unbounded number of states. Traditionally, verifying such systems using model checkers requires first abstracting the systems into finite-state models. We introduce a unified, automata-based representation for infinite-state systems and linear temporal logic properties, and describe a model-checking technique for such specifications. We exploit constraint solving and logic programming to implement an efficient and robust infrastructure for our model checker, and apply this implementation to analyze vulnerabilities of computer systems and configurations.