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Havoc Mutation

Technique

Havoc mutation is a notable mutation strategy used by American Fuzzy Lop (AFL). In the provided evidence, it is described as a combination of many individual mutations applied at random positions to help discover new behaviors in coverage-guided fuzzing.

First seen 5/26/2026
Last seen 5/28/2026
Evidence 1 chunks
Wiki v1

WIKI

Overview

Havoc mutation is one of the notable mutation types used by American Fuzzy Lop (AFL), an out-of-process, coverage-guided grey-box fuzzer. AFL uses mutations to discover new program behaviors, with new behaviors detected through edge coverage. [C1]

How it works

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NEIGHBORHOOD

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RELATIONSHIPS

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AFL ← uses 100% 2e
AFL uses havoc mutation as a combination of multiple individual mutations.

CITATIONS

4 sources
4 citations — click to collapse
[1] AFL is an out-of-process coverage-guided grey-box fuzzer that uses mutations to discover new behaviors detected through edge coverage. Efficient Cross-Level Processor Verification using Coverage-guided Fuzzing
[2] Havoc mutation is a combination of many individual mutations applied at random positions. Efficient Cross-Level Processor Verification using Coverage-guided Fuzzing
[3] AFL notable mutations include bitflip mutations, arithmetic mutations, and havoc mutation; bitflip flips varying numbers of bits and arithmetic adds or subtracts integers. Efficient Cross-Level Processor Verification using Coverage-guided Fuzzing
[4] Out-of-process fuzzers reset the whole process, so the software under test does not require a custom reset function. Efficient Cross-Level Processor Verification using Coverage-guided Fuzzing