A Survey on Fuzzing Android Applications through GUI

PhD Qualifying Examination


Title: "A Survey on Fuzzing Android Applications through GUI"

by

Miss Maryam Alsadat MASOUDIAN TARGHI


Abstract:

With the diversity of Android applications and the pervasiveness of Android
smartphones, these devices become increasingly popular, occupying the lion's
share of the smartphone market. The usability and reliability of Android
applications have a direct impact on how satisfied users are with these
devices. Fuzzing is an automated testing solution used to examine applications
looking for crashes by using valid and invalid input inputs. Because the
Graphical User Interface (GUI) is the primary input interface for smartphone
applications, fuzzing this interface can result in examining more of an
application's behavior. However, fuzzing the mobile applications' GUI presents
unique challenges due to the large number of GUI elements and rapid GUI changes
compared to other software applications. Constructing the GUI models and
employing different heuristics for generating events on GUI elements are taken
into account to address these challenges. In this survey, we first elaborate on
challenges in GUI fuzzing to see how they affect the effectiveness
and efficiency of input generation in the fuzzing process. Next, we introduce
recent research studies, their solutions to overcome these challenges, and
possible future directions in this area.


Date:                   Friday, 17 November 2023

Time:                   10:00am - 12:00noon

Venue:                  Room 1410
                        Lifts 25/26

Committee Members:      Prof. Charles Zhang (Supervisor)
                        Dr. Dimitris Papadopoulos (Chairperson)
                        Dr. Dongdong She
                        Dr. Shuai Wang


**** ALL are Welcome ****