Model-based Kernel Testing for Concurrency Bugs through Counter Example Replay

Despite the growing need for customized operating system kernels for embedded devices, kernel development continues to suffer from high development and testing costs for several reasons, including the high complexity of the kernel code, the infeasibility of unit testing, exponential numbers of concurrent behaviors, and a lack of proper tool support. To alleviate these difficulties, this study proposes the MOdel-based KERnel Testing (MOKERT) framework, which supports detection of concurrency bugs in the kernel by combining both model checking techniques and testing methods. The MOKERT framework was applied to the file systems of the Linux 2.6 kernel and found a data race bug in the proc file system.