arXiv subjects

Nicolas Boltz

Publications and source records attributed to Nicolas Boltz.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

xDECAF: An Extensible Data Flow Diagram Analysis Framework for Information Security

xDECAF is an extensible tool for architecture-based data flow analysis with a focus on information security. It combines an extended data flow diagram metamodel of labeled flows and nodes, a domain-specific constraint language with different flow operations, and a browser-based editor backed by an analysis engine. In this paper, we present the xDECAF tool library and a curated catalog of over 20 example models with documented constraints and expected violations, intended as a reusable dataset for the community. The tool has already been adopted by several research lines, providing concrete evidence of its utility. The tool, dataset, and a hosted online editor are publicly available.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2024

An Extensible Framework for Architecture-Based Data Flow Analysis for Information Security

The growing interconnection between software systems increases the need for security already at design time. Security-related properties like confidentiality are often analyzed based on data flow diagrams (DFDs). However, manually analyzing DFDs of large software systems is bothersome and error-prone, and adjusting an already deployed software is costly. Additionally, closed analysis ecosystems limit the reuse of modeled information and impede comprehensive statements about a system's security. In this paper, we present an open and extensible framework for data flow analysis. The central element of our framework is our new implementation of a well-validated data-flow-based analysis approach. The framework is compatible with DFDs and can also extract data flows from the Palladio architectural description language. We showcase the extensibility with multiple model and analysis extensions. Our evaluation indicates that we can analyze similar scenarios while achieving higher scalability compared to previous implementations.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2023

Tool-Supported Architecture-Based Data Flow Analysis for Confidentiality

Through the increasing interconnection between various systems, the need for confidential systems is increasing. Confidential systems share data only with authorized entities. However, estimating the confidentiality of a system is complex, and adjusting an already deployed software is costly. Thus, it is helpful to have confidentiality analyses, which can estimate the confidentiality already at design time. Based on an existing data-flow-based confidentiality analysis concept, we reimplemented a data flow analysis as a Java-based tool. The tool uses the software architecture to identify access violations based on the data flow. The evaluation for our tool indicates that we can analyze similar scenarios and scale for certain scenarios better than the existing analysis.

cs.SE↗