AFL quick start guide

You should read README.md - it‘s pretty short. If you really can’t, here's how to hit the ground running:

  1. Compile AFL with ‘make’. If build fails, see INSTALL.md for tips.

  2. Find or write a reasonably fast and simple program that takes data from a file or stdin, processes it in a test-worthy way, then exits cleanly. If testing a network service, modify it to run in the foreground and read from stdin. When fuzzing a format that uses checksums, comment out the checksum verification code, too.

    If this is not possible (e.g. in -Q(emu) mode) then use AFL_CUSTOM_MUTATOR_LIBRARY to calculate the values with your own library.

    The program must crash properly when a fault is encountered. Watch out for custom SIGSEGV or SIGABRT handlers and background processes. For tips on detecting non-crashing flaws, see section 11 in README.md .

  3. Compile the program / library to be fuzzed using afl-gcc. A common way to do this would be:

    CC=/path/to/afl-gcc CXX=/path/to/afl-g++ ./configure --disable-shared make clean all

    If program build fails, ping afl-users@googlegroups.com.

  4. Get a small but valid input file that makes sense to the program. When fuzzing verbose syntax (SQL, HTTP, etc), create a dictionary as described in dictionaries/README.md, too.

  5. If the program reads from stdin, run ‘afl-fuzz’ like so:

    ./afl-fuzz -i testcase_dir -o findings_dir --
    /path/to/tested/program [...program's cmdline...]

    If the program takes input from a file, you can put @@ in the program's command line; AFL will put an auto-generated file name in there for you.

  6. Investigate anything shown in red in the fuzzer UI by promptly consulting status_screen.md.

  7. compile and use llvm_mode (afl-clang-fast/afl-clang-fast++) as it is way faster and has a few cool features

  8. There is a basic docker build with ‘docker build -t aflplusplus .’

That's it. Sit back, relax, and - time permitting - try to skim through the following files:

  • README.md - A general introduction to AFL,
  • docs/perf_tips.md - Simple tips on how to fuzz more quickly,
  • docs/status_screen.md - An explanation of the tidbits shown in the UI,
  • docs/parallel_fuzzing.md - Advice on running AFL on multiple cores.