140 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
140 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
|
//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
|
||
|
// Clang Static Analyzer
|
||
|
//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
|
||
|
|
||
|
= Library Structure =
|
||
|
|
||
|
The analyzer library has two layers: a (low-level) static analysis
|
||
|
engine (GRExprEngine.cpp and friends), and some static checkers
|
||
|
(*Checker.cpp). The latter are built on top of the former via the
|
||
|
Checker and CheckerVisitor interfaces (Checker.h and
|
||
|
CheckerVisitor.h). The Checker interface is designed to be minimal
|
||
|
and simple for checker writers, and attempts to isolate them from much
|
||
|
of the gore of the internal analysis engine.
|
||
|
|
||
|
= How It Works =
|
||
|
|
||
|
The analyzer is inspired by several foundational research papers ([1],
|
||
|
[2]). (FIXME: kremenek to add more links)
|
||
|
|
||
|
In a nutshell, the analyzer is basically a source code simulator that
|
||
|
traces out possible paths of execution. The state of the program
|
||
|
(values of variables and expressions) is encapsulated by the state
|
||
|
(ProgramState). A location in the program is called a program point
|
||
|
(ProgramPoint), and the combination of state and program point is a
|
||
|
node in an exploded graph (ExplodedGraph). The term "exploded" comes
|
||
|
from exploding the control-flow edges in the control-flow graph (CFG).
|
||
|
|
||
|
Conceptually the analyzer does a reachability analysis through the
|
||
|
ExplodedGraph. We start at a root node, which has the entry program
|
||
|
point and initial state, and then simulate transitions by analyzing
|
||
|
individual expressions. The analysis of an expression can cause the
|
||
|
state to change, resulting in a new node in the ExplodedGraph with an
|
||
|
updated program point and an updated state. A bug is found by hitting
|
||
|
a node that satisfies some "bug condition" (basically a violation of a
|
||
|
checking invariant).
|
||
|
|
||
|
The analyzer traces out multiple paths by reasoning about branches and
|
||
|
then bifurcating the state: on the true branch the conditions of the
|
||
|
branch are assumed to be true and on the false branch the conditions
|
||
|
of the branch are assumed to be false. Such "assumptions" create
|
||
|
constraints on the values of the program, and those constraints are
|
||
|
recorded in the ProgramState object (and are manipulated by the
|
||
|
ConstraintManager). If assuming the conditions of a branch would
|
||
|
cause the constraints to be unsatisfiable, the branch is considered
|
||
|
infeasible and that path is not taken. This is how we get
|
||
|
path-sensitivity. We reduce exponential blow-up by caching nodes. If
|
||
|
a new node with the same state and program point as an existing node
|
||
|
would get generated, the path "caches out" and we simply reuse the
|
||
|
existing node. Thus the ExplodedGraph is not a DAG; it can contain
|
||
|
cycles as paths loop back onto each other and cache out.
|
||
|
|
||
|
ProgramState and ExplodedNodes are basically immutable once created. Once
|
||
|
one creates a ProgramState, you need to create a new one to get a new
|
||
|
ProgramState. This immutability is key since the ExplodedGraph represents
|
||
|
the behavior of the analyzed program from the entry point. To
|
||
|
represent these efficiently, we use functional data structures (e.g.,
|
||
|
ImmutableMaps) which share data between instances.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Finally, individual Checkers work by also manipulating the analysis
|
||
|
state. The analyzer engine talks to them via a visitor interface.
|
||
|
For example, the PreVisitCallExpr() method is called by GRExprEngine
|
||
|
to tell the Checker that we are about to analyze a CallExpr, and the
|
||
|
checker is asked to check for any preconditions that might not be
|
||
|
satisfied. The checker can do nothing, or it can generate a new
|
||
|
ProgramState and ExplodedNode which contains updated checker state. If it
|
||
|
finds a bug, it can tell the BugReporter object about the bug,
|
||
|
providing it an ExplodedNode which is the last node in the path that
|
||
|
triggered the problem.
|
||
|
|
||
|
= Notes about C++ =
|
||
|
|
||
|
Since now constructors are seen before the variable that is constructed
|
||
|
in the CFG, we create a temporary object as the destination region that
|
||
|
is constructed into. See ExprEngine::VisitCXXConstructExpr().
|
||
|
|
||
|
In ExprEngine::processCallExit(), we always bind the object region to the
|
||
|
evaluated CXXConstructExpr. Then in VisitDeclStmt(), we compute the
|
||
|
corresponding lazy compound value if the variable is not a reference, and
|
||
|
bind the variable region to the lazy compound value. If the variable
|
||
|
is a reference, just use the object region as the initializer value.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Before entering a C++ method (or ctor/dtor), the 'this' region is bound
|
||
|
to the object region. In ctors, we synthesize 'this' region with
|
||
|
CXXRecordDecl*, which means we do not use type qualifiers. In methods, we
|
||
|
synthesize 'this' region with CXXMethodDecl*, which has getThisType()
|
||
|
taking type qualifiers into account. It does not matter we use qualified
|
||
|
'this' region in one method and unqualified 'this' region in another
|
||
|
method, because we only need to ensure the 'this' region is consistent
|
||
|
when we synthesize it and create it directly from CXXThisExpr in a single
|
||
|
method call.
|
||
|
|
||
|
= Working on the Analyzer =
|
||
|
|
||
|
If you are interested in bringing up support for C++ expressions, the
|
||
|
best place to look is the visitation logic in GRExprEngine, which
|
||
|
handles the simulation of individual expressions. There are plenty of
|
||
|
examples there of how other expressions are handled.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If you are interested in writing checkers, look at the Checker and
|
||
|
CheckerVisitor interfaces (Checker.h and CheckerVisitor.h). Also look
|
||
|
at the files named *Checker.cpp for examples on how you can implement
|
||
|
these interfaces.
|
||
|
|
||
|
= Debugging the Analyzer =
|
||
|
|
||
|
There are some useful command-line options for debugging. For example:
|
||
|
|
||
|
$ clang -cc1 -help | grep analyze
|
||
|
-analyze-function <value>
|
||
|
-analyzer-display-progress
|
||
|
-analyzer-viz-egraph-graphviz
|
||
|
...
|
||
|
|
||
|
The first allows you to specify only analyzing a specific function.
|
||
|
The second prints to the console what function is being analyzed. The
|
||
|
third generates a graphviz dot file of the ExplodedGraph. This is
|
||
|
extremely useful when debugging the analyzer and viewing the
|
||
|
simulation results.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Of course, viewing the CFG (Control-Flow Graph) is also useful:
|
||
|
|
||
|
$ clang -cc1 -help | grep cfg
|
||
|
-cfg-add-implicit-dtors Add C++ implicit destructors to CFGs for all analyses
|
||
|
-cfg-add-initializers Add C++ initializers to CFGs for all analyses
|
||
|
-cfg-dump Display Control-Flow Graphs
|
||
|
-cfg-view View Control-Flow Graphs using GraphViz
|
||
|
-unoptimized-cfg Generate unoptimized CFGs for all analyses
|
||
|
|
||
|
-cfg-dump dumps a textual representation of the CFG to the console,
|
||
|
and -cfg-view creates a GraphViz representation.
|
||
|
|
||
|
= References =
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1] Precise interprocedural dataflow analysis via graph reachability,
|
||
|
T Reps, S Horwitz, and M Sagiv, POPL '95,
|
||
|
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=199462
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2] A memory model for static analysis of C programs, Z Xu, T
|
||
|
Kremenek, and J Zhang, http://lcs.ios.ac.cn/~xzx/memmodel.pdf
|