Processor fuzzing

Technique

Processor fuzzing is a hardware fuzzing technique for exercising processor designs with generated or mutated instruction sequences and detecting bugs from execution mismatches or microarchitectural observations. Recent work emphasizes better feedback signals, deeper exploration of hard-to-reach logic, and specialized variants such as formal-assisted, similarity-guided, LLM-guided, and transient-execution-focused fuzzing.

First seen 6/11/2026

Last seen 8/16/2026

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Processor fuzzing

Overview

Processor fuzzing applies fuzzing to processor verification by generating instruction-sequence test cases, executing them on a design under test, and checking the resulting behavior for faults or vulnerabilities. In the provided sources, this is described as a form of hardware fuzzing for RTL processor designs, with a strong focus on open-source RISC-V cores. [Processor fuzzing as hardware fuzzing] [Execution and bug analysis] [RISC-V relevance]

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RELATIONSHIPS

16 connections

ProcessorFuzz ← implements 100% 4e

ProcessorFuzz is a processor fuzzing tool.

ProcessorFuzz: Guiding Processor Fuzzing using Control and Status Registers ← mentions 90% 2e

Processor fuzzing is the focal technique addressed by the proposed tool.

Functional Verification uses → 90% 1e

Processor fuzzing aims to improve functional verification coverage.

CSR-guided processor fuzzing ← extends 65% 1e

CSR-guided processor fuzzing is a specialized form of general processor fuzzing.

hardware fuzzing part of → 50% 1e

The paper discusses hardware fuzzing broadly and presents a processor-focused fuzzer, indicating processor fuzzing as a subset of hardware fuzzing.

Processor fuzzing operates at the Register Transfer Level for detecting vulnerabilities.

Mux Toggle Coverage uses → 85% 1e

Mux toggle coverage is one of the coverage metrics used by existing processor fuzzers.

Control Register Coverage uses → 85% 1e

Control register coverage is one of the coverage metrics used by existing processor fuzzers.

Hardware Behavior Coverage uses → 85% 1e

Hardware behavior coverage is one of the coverage metrics used by existing processor fuzzers.

Formal Verification ← compares with 85% 1e

The paper compares formal verification and processor fuzzing as methods for RTL transient execution vulnerability detection.

ReFuzz ← implements 98% 1e

ReFuzz implements processor fuzzing by reusing tests across processor generations.

ReFuzz: Reusing Tests for Processor Fuzzing with Contextual Bandits ← uses 98% 1e

The ReFuzz paper presents research on processor fuzzing.

HyPFuzz ← implements 100% 1e

HyPFuzz is a formal-assisted processor fuzzing tool.

Coverage-guided Fuzzing uses → 90% 1e

Processor fuzzing in this work employs coverage-guided fuzzing.

RISCVuzz ← implements 95% 1e

RISCVuzz is a differential hardware fuzzing tool for RISC-V processors.

Processor fuzzing targets and uses RTL designs as the system under test.

LINKED ENTITIES

3 links

ProcessorFuzz IMPLEMENTS Extracted graph relationship

hardware fuzzing PART_OF Extracted graph relationship

ProcessorFuzz: Guiding Processor Fuzzing using Control and Status Registers MENTIONS Extracted graph relationship

CITATIONS

17 sources

17 citations — click to expand

[1] Processor fuzzing as hardware fuzzing ProcessorFuzz: Guiding Processor Fuzzing using Control and Status Registers | DeepAI

[2] Limits of random regression and formal verification ChatFuzz paper excerpt (DATE 2024 proceedings PDF)

[3] Fuzzing advantages ChatFuzz paper excerpt (DATE 2024 proceedings PDF)

[4] Seed mutation in processor fuzzers ChatFuzz paper excerpt (DATE 2024 proceedings PDF)

[5] Execution and bug analysis DejaVuzz: Disclosing Transient Execution Bugs with Dynamic Swappable Memory and Differential Information Flow Tracking Assisted Processor Fuzzing

[6] Traditional coverage guidance ChatFuzz paper excerpt (DATE 2024 proceedings PDF)

[7] Additional processor coverage metrics DejaVuzz: Disclosing Transient Execution Bugs with Dynamic Swappable Memory and Differential Information Flow Tracking Assisted Processor Fuzzing

[8] ProcessorFuzz motivation and method ProcessorFuzz: Guiding Processor Fuzzing using Control and Status Registers | DeepAI

[9] ProcessorFuzz evaluation ProcessorFuzz: Guiding Processor Fuzzing using Control and Status Registers | DeepAI

[10] HyPFuzz method and results HyPFuzz: Formal-Assisted Processor Fuzzing

[11] SimFuzz approach and limitations SimFuzz: Similarity-guided Block-level Mutation for RISC-V Processor Fuzzing

[12] SimFuzz results SimFuzz: Similarity-guided Block-level Mutation for RISC-V Processor Fuzzing

[13] ChatFuzz method ChatFuzz paper excerpt (DATE 2024 proceedings PDF)

[14] ChatFuzz results ChatFuzz paper excerpt (DATE 2024 proceedings PDF)

[15] Transient-execution coverage limitation DejaVuzz: Disclosing Transient Execution Bugs with Dynamic Swappable Memory and Differential Information Flow Tracking Assisted Processor Fuzzing

[16] DejaVuzz transient-window results DejaVuzz: Disclosing Transient Execution Bugs with Dynamic Swappable Memory and Differential Information Flow Tracking Assisted Processor Fuzzing

[17] RISC-V relevance SimFuzz: Similarity-guided Block-level Mutation for RISC-V Processor Fuzzing