Enbug: when debuggers go bad

  • Authors:
  • David Williams-King;John Aycock;Daniel Medeiros Nunes de Castro

  • Affiliations:
  • University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the fifteenth annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

We have developed a tool, enbug, that intentionally induces errors into software in a controlled fashion. The robustness of students' code can be challenged by presenting exotic failure scenarios for testing, without Herculean efforts on the part of teaching assistants or instructors. Enbug also has applications in computer security and secure software courses, by being able to inject specific flaws into existing software for students to locate and exploit. The implementation of enbug is an example of tool reuse, through the automated (ab)use of a debugger.