arXiv subjects

Zixu Zhou

Publications and source records attributed to Zixu Zhou.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Characterizing Tests in IoT Software: Practices, Challenges and Opportunities

The Internet of Things (IoT) is experiencing rapid growth. Smart devices are emerging in smart homes and industrial applications, performing mission-critical tasks. Bugs in IoT software can lead to severe consequences. For example, a buggy smart lock can allow unauthorized access to a private property. Testing is a primary practice to expose software bugs and ensure software quality. However, little is known about how IoT software is tested. To bridge this gap, we conducted the first empirical study on test cases in open-source IoT software. Specifically, we evaluated the effectiveness of test cases in IoT software, explored the challenges inherent in testing IoT software, and analyzed the usage of mock objects. Our results indicate that while IoT software often contains a considerable number of tests, their effectiveness remains limited. We identified the primary challenges in testing IoT software as managing complex interactions with various external dependencies, such as other network-reliant IoT components, file systems, operating systems, and databases. We also observed that the use of mock objects in IoT software closely aligns with our identified testing challenges. This alignment demonstrates the potential of mocking as a solution to enhance test coverage and address the complexities of IoT software testing.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2025

Decompiling Rust: An Empirical Study of Compiler Optimizations and Reverse Engineering Challenges

Decompiling Rust binaries is challenging due to the language's rich type system, aggressive compiler optimizations, and widespread use of high-level abstractions. In this work, we conduct a benchmark-driven evaluation of decompilation quality across core Rust features and compiler build modes. Our automated scoring framework shows that generic types, trait methods, and error handling constructs significantly reduce decompilation quality, especially in release builds. Through representative case studies, we analyze how specific language constructs affect control flow, variable naming, and type information recovery. Our findings provide actionable insights for tool developers and highlight the need for Rust-aware decompilation strategies.

cs.PL↗

arXiv2025

Characterizing Bugs in Login Processes of Android Applications: An Empirical Study

The login functionality, being the gateway to app usage, plays a critical role in both user experience and application security. As Android apps increasingly incorporate login functionalities, they support a variety of authentication methods with complicated login processes, catering to personalized user experiences. However, the complexities in managing different operations in login processes make it difficult for developers to handle them correctly. In this paper, we present the first empirical study of login issues in Android apps. We analyze 361 issues from 44 popular open-source Android repositories, examining the root causes, symptoms, and trigger conditions of these issues. Our findings indicate that the vast majority of the login issues are induced by the improper handling of complex state transitions during the login process, which can prevent users from logging in or misdirect them to incorrect subsequent actions. Additionally, we observed that issues related to this cause typically require the convergence of multiple trigger conditions to manifest. These findings can help developers to model the login processes which can help them to identify the causes of issues and design targeted test cases and precise test oracles. Our dataset has been made openly available to facilitate future research in this area.

cs.SE↗