{"id":165248,"date":"2013-07-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/msr-research-item\/micro-execution\/"},"modified":"2018-10-16T20:43:38","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T03:43:38","slug":"micro-execution","status":"publish","type":"msr-research-item","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/publication\/micro-execution\/","title":{"rendered":"Micro Execution"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"asset-content\">\n<p>Micro execution is the ability to execute any code fragment without a user-provided test driver or input data. The user simply identifies a function or code location in an exe or dll. A runtime Virtual Machine (VM) customized for testing purposes then starts executing the code at that location, catches all memory operations before they occur, allocates memory on-the-fly in order to perform those read\/write memory operations, and provides input values according to a customizable memory policy, which defines what read memory accesses should be treated as inputs.<\/p>\n<p>MicroX is a first prototype VM allowing micro execution of x86 binary code. No source code or pdb required. No test driver\/harness required: MicroX automatically discovers dynamically the Input\/Output signature of the code being run. Input values are provided as needed along the execution and can be generated in various ways, e.g., randomly or using some other test-generation tool. To the best of our knowledge, MicroX is the first VM designed for test isolation and generation purposes.<\/p>\n<p>This paper introduces micro execution and discusses how to implement it, strengths and limitations, applications, related work and long-term goals.<\/p>\n<p>(July 2013, revised September 2013)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .asset-content --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Micro execution is the ability to execute any code fragment without a user-provided test driver or input data. The user simply identifies a function or code location in an exe or dll. A runtime Virtual Machine (VM) customized for testing purposes then starts executing the code at that location, catches all memory operations before they 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