Newest papers

Function Contracts for Bounded Model Checking of C Programs

Weiqi Wang, Marie Farrell, Liping Zhao, Lucas Carvalho Cordeiro · 2026 · arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2610.26089 · cited by 0 works (OpenAlex) · open-access PDF

Portuguese

O controlo do modelo de bound é uma ferramenta de controlo de estado que desrolou um programa em uma única fórmula, de modo que uma função que detém um loop custa ao solvente uma cópia fresca desse loop em cada local de chamada. Os contratos de função quebram esse acoplamento. Verifique o corpo uma vez contra o seu contrato, em seguida, substitua cada chamada por um stub derivado dele. O CBMC suporta isso através de um controlo de condição de quadro dinâmico, aplicado em escala industrial, mas sem conta formal de por que a substituição é sonora e nenhuma caracterização do que o contrato de controlo do quadro custa. Nós apresentamos o quadro de contrato de função para o ESBMC. A sintaxe da cláusula CBC, ambas as fases, e a primeira atribui a execução que a ferramenta

Machine translation (Meta M2M100); the English original follows.

Abstract

Bounded model checking unrolls a program into a single formula, so a function holding a loop costs the solver a fresh copy of that loop at every call site. Function contracts break that coupling. Verify the body once against its contract, then replace each call by a stub derived from it. CBMC supports this through dynamic frame condition checking, applied at industrial scale, but with no formal account of why the replacement is sound and no characterisation of what the frame check costs. We present the function-contract framework for ESBMC. The clause syntax, both phases, and the first assigns enforcement the tool has had are all introduced here. Its technical core is an observational frame rule: snapshot the locations the contract does not permit the function to write, then compare them at exit. The encoding emits a number of verification conditions set by how many globals the program has, not by how many writes the body performs, while dynamic frame condition checking grows with the write count. That is a property of the encoding rather than a timing, so it moves with neither the machine nor the solver. The rule itself is the classical one; what we add is its bounded form inside a BMC encoding, with the pipeline's algebraic skeleton machine-checked in Lean 4 and the limits of that model stated. We evaluate on synthetic sweeps, SV-COMP tasks, an ANSSI X.509 parser, the FreeRTOS heap_1 allocator, and the ML-KEM reference implementation whose CBMC contracts we reuse unchanged. At the coefficient count FIPS-203 mandates, neither tool finishes on the monolithic route inside ten minutes, and both finish on the modular one. The framework is merged into ESBMC master. Contracts are what is left when unrolling runs out of room.

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Topics: Bounded function, Computer science, Model checking, Frame (networking), Reuse, Programming language

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