fuzz testing

Concept

Fuzz testing is a dynamic verification technique that generates inputs to exercise a system under test, originally developed for software and adapted to hardware (such as CPU RTL) bug detection. It relies on critical steps like seed selection and mutation, and its effectiveness depends on execution speed and the ability to maintain short, coverage-effective inputs.

First seen 6/3/2026

Last seen 6/3/2026

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WIKI

Overview

Fuzz testing is a dynamic verification technique in which inputs are automatically generated and fed to a system under test in order to expose bugs or uncover new behaviors. The approach has its roots in software testing but has been adapted to hardware domains, most notably the verification of CPU register-transfer level (RTL) designs prior to deployment ^[1].

Origin and General Mechanism

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RTL Fuzzing ← uses 2e

RTL fuzzing is an application of fuzz testing to hardware verification.

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RTL Fuzzing USES Extracted graph relationship

CITATIONS

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[1] Fuzz testing was initially designed for testing software. [2401.15967] Instiller: Towards Efficient and Realistic RTL Fuzzing

[2] Software-tailored customized fuzzing approaches include program transformation and process tracing. [2401.15967] Instiller: Towards Efficient and Realistic RTL Fuzzing

[3] Seed selection and mutation are critical steps in fuzz testing. [2401.15967] Instiller: Towards Efficient and Realistic RTL Fuzzing

[4] Prior CPU RTL fuzz testing work did not consider seed selection or combine fuzzing with hardware features well. [2401.15967] Instiller: Towards Efficient and Realistic RTL Fuzzing

[5] Execution speed is a key factor in the success of fuzz testing. [2401.15967] Instiller: Towards Efficient and Realistic RTL Fuzzing

[6] Coverage in CPU RTL fuzz testing does not increase proportionally to input length. [2401.15967] Instiller: Towards Efficient and Realistic RTL Fuzzing

[7] Fuzz testing has been applied to CPU RTL verification, where inputs are instruction sequences that may include interruptions and exceptions to simulate real-world execution. [2401.15967] Instiller: Towards Efficient and Realistic RTL Fuzzing

[8] Prior fuzz testing work simulated only simple interruption cases and did not simulate exceptions or multiple simultaneous interruptions with priorities. [2401.15967] Instiller: Towards Efficient and Realistic RTL Fuzzing