Evolving Assembly Code in an Adversarial Environment

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

We evolve survivors for the CodeGuru competition - - assembly programs that run the longest in shared memory, by resisting attacks from adversary survivors and finding their weaknesses. For evolving top-notch solvers, we specify a Backus Normal Form (BNF) for the assembly language and synthesize the code from scratch using Genetic Programming (GP). We evaluate the survivors by running CodeGuru games against human-written winning survivors. Our evolved programs found weaknesses in the programs they were trained against and utilized them. This work has important applications for cyber-security, as we utilize evolution to detect weaknesses in survivors. The assembly BNF is domain-independent; thus, by modifying the fitness function, it can detect code weaknesses and help fix them. Finally, the CodeGuru competition offers a novel platform for analyzing GP and code evolution in adversarial environments. To support further research in this direction, we provide a thorough qualitative analysis of the evolved survivors and the weaknesses found.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGECCO 2024 Companion - Proceedings of the 2024 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages723-726
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9798400704956
DOIs
StatePublished - 14 Jul 2024
Event2024 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion, GECCO 2024 Companion - Melbourne, Australia
Duration: 14 Jul 202418 Jul 2024

Publication series

NameGECCO 2024 Companion - Proceedings of the 2024 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion

Conference

Conference2024 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion, GECCO 2024 Companion
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityMelbourne
Period14/07/2418/07/24

Keywords

  • assembly
  • code generation
  • codeguru xtreme
  • genetic programming

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Software
  • Control and Optimization
  • Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics
  • Logic

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