Source code and binary analysis of software defects

Abstract

This extended abstract presents the techniques to identify a selected set of software defects (bugs, bad practices, etc.) within both source code and binary executables. We present the results from six different static analysis tests applied on both the source code and the binary executables (with and without optimization) on three different applications. We compare the precision of the static analysis results from the source code and the binary executable forms of the same software. Ideally the results from an analysis of source code and its binary would be identical, but in practice the source code and binary representation cause slightly different techniques to be used with different amounts and types of information readily available.