[TUHS] A fuzzy awk. (Was: The 'usage: ...' message.)

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Arnold,

> > in order to maximize the amount of input that could be parsed before
> > giving up.
>
> Gawk used to do this, until people started fuzzing it, causing
> cascading errors and eventually core dumps.  Now the first syntax
> error is fatal.

This is the first time I've heard of making life difficult for fuzzers
so I'm curious...

I'm assuming you agree the eventual core dump was a bug somewhere to be
fixed, and probably was.  Stopping on the first error lessens the
‘attack surface’ for the fuzzer.  Do you think there remains a bug which
would bite a user which the fuzzer might have found more easily before
the shrunken surface?

-- 
Cheers, Ralph.