Automatic Error Elimination by Multi-Application Code Transfer

Abstract

We present pDNA, a system for automatically transferring correct code from donor applications into recipient applications to successfully eliminate errors in the recipient. Experimental results using three donor applications to eliminate seven errors in four recipient applications highlight the ability of pDNA to transfer code across applications to eliminate otherwise fatal integer overflow errors at critical memory allocation sites. Because pDNA works with binary donors with no need for source code or symbolic information, it supports a wide range of use cases. To the best of our knowledge, pDNA is the first system to eliminate software errors via the successful transfer of correct code across applications.