Balancing Validity and Vulnerability: Knowledge-Driven Seed Generation via LLMs for Deep Learning Library Fuzzing

Fuzzing deep learning (DL) libraries is essential for uncovering security vulnerabilities in AI systems. Existing approaches enhance large language models (LLMs) with external knowledge such as bug reports to improve the quality of generated seeds. However, most approaches still rely on static strategies or single knowledge sources, limiting their ability to produce syntactically valid inputs that also expose deeper bugs. To address this challenge, we propose an adaptive seed generation approach that models knowledge-guided prompt selection as a multi-armed bandit problem. Our method first constructs two knowledge bases from API documentation and bug reports, then dynamically selects and refines prompt strategies based on real-time feedback. These strategies are tailored to the knowledge types in the respective bases. We design a multi-dimensional reward function to evaluate each batch of generated seeds by measuring their error-triggering potential and behavioral diversity, enabling a balanced exploration of both syntactically valid and bug-triggering test cases. Our experiments on three DL libraries, PaddlePaddle, MindSpore, and OneFlow, identify 17 previously unknown crash bugs, demonstrating the effectiveness and generalizability of the proposed approach.

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Publication Details

Journal
Applied Sciences
Published
2025-09-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910396
Primary Topic
Software Testing and Debugging Techniques
Type
article
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0.00
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article

Balancing Validity and Vulnerability: Knowledge-Driven Seed Generation via LLMs for Deep Learning Library Fuzzing

Kailong Zhu, Xuehu Yan, Rongtao Liao, Zeshan Pang
Applied Sciences
Software Testing and Debugging Techniques
article

Balancing Validity and Vulnerability: Knowledge-Driven Seed Generation via LLMs for Deep Learning Library Fuzzing

Kailong Zhu, Xuehu Yan, Rongtao Liao, Zeshan Pang
article en

Abstract

Fuzzing deep learning (DL) libraries is essential for uncovering security vulnerabilities in AI systems. Existing approaches enhance large language models (LLMs) with external knowledge such as bug reports to improve the quality of generated seeds. However, most approaches still rely on static strategies or single knowledge sources, limiting their ability to produce syntactically valid inputs that also expose deeper bugs. To address this challenge, we propose an adaptive seed generation approach that models knowledge-guided prompt selection as a multi-armed bandit problem. Our method first constructs two knowledge bases from API documentation and bug reports, then dynamically selects and refines prompt strategies based on real-time feedback. These strategies are tailored to the knowledge types in the respective bases. We design a multi-dimensional reward function to evaluate each batch of generated seeds by measuring their error-triggering potential and behavioral diversity, enabling a balanced exploration of both syntactically valid and bug-triggering test cases. Our experiments on three DL libraries, PaddlePaddle, MindSpore, and OneFlow, identify 17 previously unknown crash bugs, demonstrating the effectiveness and generalizability of the proposed approach.

Applied SciencesVol. 15(19)
National University of Defense Technology (CN), Health Awareness (United States) (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 73%
Software Testing and Debugging Techniques
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Balancing Validity and Vulnerability: Knowledge-Driven Seed Generation via LLMs for Deep Learning Library Fuzzing — Kailong Zhu, Xuehu Yan, et al. · Applied Sciences (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS