Golden-Reference Model Fuzzing

Technique

Golden-reference model fuzzing is a hardware security testing technique that decouples test refinement from vulnerability exploration by leveraging a fast golden-reference model of the target device. It enables efficient, semantically aware hardware fuzzing that achieves high coverage and uncovers new vulnerabilities, demonstrated on RISC-V processors via the GoldenFuzz framework.

First seen 7/4/2026

Last seen 7/4/2026

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Golden-Reference Model Fuzzing

Overview

Golden-reference model fuzzing is a technique in hardware security testing that employs a two-stage fuzzing strategy. The approach decouples test refinement from vulnerability exploration by using a fast golden-reference model of the device under test. This separation enables efficient and semantically aware hardware fuzzing, achieving high coverage and discovering new high-severity vulnerabilities on target processors.

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RELATIONSHIPS

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GoldenFuzz ← implements 99% 1e

GoldenFuzz implements golden-reference model fuzzing as its core strategy.

GoldenFuzz: Generative Golden Reference Hardware Fuzzing ← uses 99% 1e

The GoldenFuzz paper introduces and uses golden-reference model fuzzing.

LINKED ENTITIES

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GoldenFuzz IMPLEMENTS Extracted graph relationship

GoldenFuzz: Generative Golden Reference Hardware Fuzzing USES Extracted graph relationship

CITATIONS

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3 citations — click to collapse

[1] Golden-reference model fuzzing introduces a two-stage strategy that decouples test refinement from vulnerability exploration using a fast golden-reference model of the device. NDSS 2026 Hardware Security Research Announcement (LinkedIn post by Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi)

[2] GoldenFuzz enables efficient and semantically aware hardware fuzzing that achieves high coverage and discovers new high-severity vulnerabilities across RISC-V processors. NDSS 2026 Hardware Security Research Announcement (LinkedIn post by Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi)

[3] The GoldenFuzz paper is authored by Lichao Wu, Mohamadreza Rostami, Huimin Li, Nikhilesh Singh, and Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi. NDSS 2026 Hardware Security Research Announcement (LinkedIn post by Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi)