Interactive Cross-Language Pointer Analysis For Resolving Native Code in Java Programs.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	Interactive Cross-Language Pointer Analysis For Resolving Native Code in Java Programs.
Authors:	Zhang, Chenxi¹ dz1733024@mail.nju.edu.cn, Liang, Yufei¹ 602024330013@mail.nju.edu.cn, Tan, Tian¹ tiantan@nju.edu.cn, Xu, Chang¹ changxu@nju.edu.cn, Kan, Shuangxiang² shuangxiang.kan@unsw.edu.au, Sui, Yulei² y.sui@unsw.edu.au, Li, Yue¹ yueli@nju.edu.cn
Source:	ICSE: International Conference on Software Engineering. 2025, p1237-1248. 12p.
Subjects:	Java programming language, Application program interfaces
Abstract:	Java offers the Java Native Interface (JNI), which allows programs running in the Java Virtual Machine to invoke and be manipulated by native applications and libraries written in other languages, typically C. While JNI mechanism significantly enhances the Java platform's capabilities, it also presents challenges for static analysis of Java programs due to the complex behaviors introduced by native code. Therefore, effectively resolving the interactions between Java and native code is crucial for static analysis. In this paper, we introduce JNIFER, the first interactive cross-language pointer analysis for resolving native code in Java programs. JNIFER integrates both Java and C pointer analyses, equipped with advanced native call and JNI function analyses, enabling the simultaneous analysis of both Java and native code. During the analysis of cross-language interactions, the two analyzers interact with each other, constructing cross-language points-to relations and call graphs, thereby approximating the runtime behavior at the interaction sites. Our evaluation shows that JNIFER outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in terms of soundness while maintaining high precision and comparable efficiency, as evidenced by extensive experiments on OpenJDK and real-world Java applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Engineering Source

Description
Abstract:	Java offers the Java Native Interface (JNI), which allows programs running in the Java Virtual Machine to invoke and be manipulated by native applications and libraries written in other languages, typically C. While JNI mechanism significantly enhances the Java platform's capabilities, it also presents challenges for static analysis of Java programs due to the complex behaviors introduced by native code. Therefore, effectively resolving the interactions between Java and native code is crucial for static analysis. In this paper, we introduce JNIFER, the first interactive cross-language pointer analysis for resolving native code in Java programs. JNIFER integrates both Java and C pointer analyses, equipped with advanced native call and JNI function analyses, enabling the simultaneous analysis of both Java and native code. During the analysis of cross-language interactions, the two analyzers interact with each other, constructing cross-language points-to relations and call graphs, thereby approximating the runtime behavior at the interaction sites. Our evaluation shows that JNIFER outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in terms of soundness while maintaining high precision and comparable efficiency, as evidenced by extensive experiments on OpenJDK and real-world Java applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]