DLFuzz: Differential Fuzzing Testing of Deep Learning Systems
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Abstract (arXiv)
Deep learning (DL) systems are increasingly applied to safety-critical domains such as autonomous driving cars. It is of significant importance to ensure the reliability and robustness of DL systems. Existing testing methodologies always fail to include rare inputs in the testing dataset and exhibit low neuron coverage. In this paper, we propose DLFuzz, the frst differential fuzzing testing framework to guide DL systems exposing incorrect behaviors. DLFuzz keeps minutely mutating the input to maximize the neuron coverage and the prediction difference between the original input and the mutated input, without manual labeling effort or cross-referencing oracles from other DL systems with the same functionality. We present empirical evaluations on two well-known datasets to demonstrate its efficiency. Compared with DeepXplore, the state-of-the-art DL whitebox testing framework, DLFuzz does not require extra efforts to find similar functional DL systems for cross-referencing check, but could generate 338.59% more adversarial inputs with 89.82% smaller perturbations, averagely obtain 2.86% higher neuron coverage, and save 20.11% time consumption.
Key facts. Cited by 64 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 28 Aug 2018.
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Citing papers per year: 2021: 11; 2022: 13; 2023: 15; 2024: 11; 2025: 5; 2026: 9.
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- 2021Inspect, Understand, Overcome: A Survey of Practical Methods for AI Safetycited by 35
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- 2024Foundation Models for Rapid Autonomy Validation22 Oct 2024
- 2024CAP: Detecting Unauthorized Data Usage in Generative Models via Prompt Generation8 Oct 2024
- 2024FuzzCoder: Byte-level Fuzzing Test via Large Language Model3 Sep 2024
- 2024Robust Black-box Testing of Deep Neural Networks using Co-Domain Coverage13 Aug 2024
- 2024Targeted Deep Learning System Boundary Testing12 Aug 2024
- 2024Beyond Accuracy: An Empirical Study on Unit Testing in Open-source Deep Learning Projects26 Feb 2024
- 2024QuanTest: Entanglement-Guided Testing of Quantum Neural Network Systems20 Feb 2024
- 2024A Survey on Verification and Validation, Testing and Evaluations of Neurosymbolic Artificial Intelligence6 Jan 2024
- 2023DREAM: Debugging and Repairing AutoML Pipelines31 Dec 2023
- 2023GIST: Generated Inputs Sets Transferability in Deep Learning1 Nov 2023
- 2023Good Tools are Half the Work: Tool Usage in Deep Learning Projects29 Oct 2023
- 2023Test & Evaluation Best Practices for Machine Learning-Enabled Systems10 Oct 2023
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- 2023LEAP: Efficient and Automated Test Method for NLP Software22 Aug 2023
- 2023An Image is Worth a Thousand Toxic Words: A Metamorphic Testing Framework for Content Moderation Software18 Aug 2023
- 2023Emotionally Numb or Empathetic? Evaluating How LLMs Feel Using EmotionBench7 Aug 2023
- 2023Feature Map Testing for Deep Neural Networks21 Jul 2023
- 2023CertPri: Certifiable Prioritization for Deep Neural Networks via Movement Cost in Feature Space18 Jul 2023
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- 2023Reusing Deep Neural Network Models through Model Re-engineering1 Apr 2023
- 2023Challenges and Practices of Deep Learning Model Reengineering: A Case Study on Computer Vision13 Mar 2023
- 2023Neuroevolutionary algorithms driven by neuron coverage metrics for semi-supervised classification5 Mar 2023
- 2023FedDebug: Systematic Debugging for Federated Learning Applications9 Jan 2023
- 2022When and Why Test Generators for Deep Learning Produce Invalid Inputs: an Empirical Study21 Dec 2022
- 2022Efficient Adversarial Input Generation via Neural Net Patching30 Nov 2022
- 2022Deep Fake Detection, Deterrence and Response: Challenges and Opportunities26 Nov 2022
- 2022DualApp: Tight Over-Approximation for Neural Network Robustness Verification via Under-Approximation21 Nov 2022
- 2022Aries: Efficient Testing of Deep Neural Networks via Labeling-Free Accuracy Estimation22 Jul 2022
- 2022Performance Analysis of Out-of-Distribution Detection on Trained Neural Networks26 Apr 2022
- 2022A Tale of Two Models: Constructing Evasive Attacks on Edge Models22 Apr 2022
- 2022Is Neuron Coverage Needed to Make Person Detection More Robust?21 Apr 2022
- 2022Characterizing and Understanding the Behavior of Quantized Models for Reliable Deployment8 Apr 2022
- 2022LaF: Labeling-Free Model Selection for Automated Deep Neural Network Reusing8 Apr 2022
50 newest of 64 All 64 (JSON)
- 2023Emotionally Numb or Empathetic? Evaluating How LLMs Feel Using EmotionBenchcited by 54
- 2021How to Certify Machine Learning Based Safety-critical Systems? A Systematic Literature Reviewcited by 36
- 2021Inspect, Understand, Overcome: A Survey of Practical Methods for AI Safetycited by 35
- 2021DeepHyperion: Exploring the Feature Space of Deep Learning-Based Systems through Illumination Searchcited by 29
- 2021Distribution-Aware Testing of Neural Networks Using Generative Modelscited by 22
- 2022SoK: On the Semantic AI Security in Autonomous Drivingcited by 22
- 2022When and Why Test Generators for Deep Learning Produce Invalid Inputs: an Empirical Studycited by 18
- 2021DeepMetis: Augmenting a Deep Learning Test Set to Increase its Mutation Scorecited by 12
- 2021Exposing Previously Undetectable Faults in Deep Neural Networkscited by 11
- 2023Challenges and Practices of Deep Learning Model Reengineering: A Case Study on Computer Visioncited by 11
- 2024A Survey on Verification and Validation, Testing and Evaluations of Neurosymbolic Artificial Intelligencecited by 10
- 2021Performance Analysis of Out-of-Distribution Detection on Various Trained Neural Networkscited by 9
12 most cited of 61 All 61 (JSON)
- 2026Reliability Testing of Medical Model Performance under Distributed Deployment29 Sep 2026
- 2026TESTNAV: Pareto-Guided Search for Compositional Robustness Testing20 Aug 2026
- 2026TestifAI: Tomography-Based Testing for Deep Learning Systems19 Aug 2026
- 2026SeFaR: Semantic Feature-aware Robustness Testing of Deep Neural Networks10 Aug 2026
- 2026Test Case Prioritization for DNNs via Neural Collapse Instability22 Jul 2026
- 2026Testing Neural Networks via Bayesian-Guided Exploration of Decision Landscapes3 Jun 2026
- 2026Latent Anchor-Driven Test Generation for Deep Neural Networks3 Jun 2026
- 2026Latent Regularization in Generative Test Input Generation17 Feb 2026
- 2025Effort-Optimized, Accuracy-Driven Labelling and Validation of Test Inputs for DL Systems: A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming Approach7 Jul 2025
- 2025RBT4DNN: Requirements-based Testing of Neural Networks3 Apr 2025
- 2025Towards Assessing Deep Learning Test Input Generators3 Apr 2025
- 2025On the Mistaken Assumption of Interchangeable Deep Reinforcement Learning Implementations28 Mar 2025
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