Article

Formal verification of backward compatibility of microcode

Authors:

Sela Mador-Haim,

Michael Mishaeli,

Jonathan Shalev,

Andreas Tiemeyer,

Moshe Y. Vardi,

Lenore D. ZuckAuthors Info & Claims

CAV'05: Proceedings of the 17th international conference on Computer Aided Verification

Pages 185 - 198

https://doi.org/10.1007/11513988_20

Published: 06 July 2005 Publication History

Abstract

Microcode is used to facilitate new technologies in Intel CPU designs. A critical requirement is that new designs be backwardly compatible with legacy code when new functionalities are disabled. Several features distinguish microcode from other software systems, such as: interaction with the external environment, sensitivity to exceptions, and the complexity of instructions. This work describes the ideas behind MICROFORMAL, a technology for fully automated formal verification of functional backward compatibility of microcode.

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Cited By

Namjoshi KZuck L(2025)Program Correctness through Self-CertificationCommunications of the ACM10.1145/368962468:2(74-84)Online publication date: 13-Jan-2025
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Boukir KBéchennec JDéplanche ACucu-Grosjean LMedina RAltmeyer SScharbarg J(2020)Requirement specification and model-checking of a real-time scheduler implementationProceedings of the 28th International Conference on Real-Time Networks and Systems10.1145/3394810.3394817(89-99)Online publication date: 9-Jun-2020
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Goel SSlobodova ASumners RSwords SBlanchette JHriţcu C(2020)Verifying x86 instruction implementationsProceedings of the 9th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Certified Programs and Proofs10.1145/3372885.3373811(47-60)Online publication date: 20-Jan-2020
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Formal verification of backward compatibility of microcode

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image Guide Proceedings

CAV'05: Proceedings of the 17th international conference on Computer Aided Verification

July 2005

564 pages

ISBN:3540272313

Editors:
Kousha Etessami
LFCS, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
,
Sriram K. Rajamani
LFCS, School of Informatics, Microsoft Research India

Sponsors

Jasper Design Automation: Jasper Design Automation
Weizmann Institute: Weizmann Institute
Microsoft: Microsoft
Intel: Intel
IBM: IBM

Publisher

Springer-Verlag

Berlin, Heidelberg

Publication History

Published: 06 July 2005

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Cited By

Namjoshi KZuck L(2025)Program Correctness through Self-CertificationCommunications of the ACM10.1145/368962468:2(74-84)Online publication date: 13-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689624
Boukir KBéchennec JDéplanche ACucu-Grosjean LMedina RAltmeyer SScharbarg J(2020)Requirement specification and model-checking of a real-time scheduler implementationProceedings of the 28th International Conference on Real-Time Networks and Systems10.1145/3394810.3394817(89-99)Online publication date: 9-Jun-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3394810.3394817
Goel SSlobodova ASumners RSwords SBlanchette JHriţcu C(2020)Verifying x86 instruction implementationsProceedings of the 9th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Certified Programs and Proofs10.1145/3372885.3373811(47-60)Online publication date: 20-Jan-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3372885.3373811
Churchill BSharma RBastien JAiken A(2017)Sound Loop Superoptimization for Google Native ClientACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News10.1145/3093337.303775445:1(313-326)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3093337.3037754
Churchill BSharma RBastien JAiken A(2017)Sound Loop Superoptimization for Google Native ClientACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/3093336.303775452:4(313-326)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3093336.3037754
Churchill BSharma RBastien JAiken AChen YTemam OCarter J(2017)Sound Loop Superoptimization for Google Native ClientProceedings of the Twenty-Second International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems10.1145/3037697.3037754(313-326)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3037697.3037754
Marx OVillarraga CStoffel DKunz WTalpin J(2016)A computer-algebraic approach to formal verification of data-centric low-level softwareProceedings of the 14th ACM-IEEE International Conference on Formal Methods and Models for System Design10.5555/3343414.3343419(34-42)Online publication date: 18-Nov-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3343414.3343419
Lucanu DRusu V(2015)Program equivalence by circular reasoningFormal Aspects of Computing10.1007/s00165-014-0319-627:4(701-726)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00165-014-0319-6
(2013)An equivalence checker for hardware-dependent embedded system softwareProceedings of the Eleventh ACM/IEEE International Conference on Formal Methods and Models for Codesign10.5555/3041405.3041491(119-128)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3041405.3041491
Sharma RSchkufza EChurchill BAiken A(2013)Data-driven equivalence checkingACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/2544173.250950948:10(391-406)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2544173.2509509
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