arXiv AI

When Models Know but Can't Linearly Say: Relational Encoding Limits Linear Vulnerability Classification in Code LLMs

arXiv AI
Sep 25

Detecting Data Poisoning in Code Generation LLMs via Black-Box, Vulnerability-Oriented Scanning

The paper introduces CodeScan, a black-box, vulnerability-oriented scanning framework designed to detect data poisoning and backdoor attacks in code generation large language models (LLMs). CodeScan operates by analyzing structural similarities across multiple code generations, normalizing them with abstract syntax tree (AST) techniques, and then applying LLM-based vulnerability analysis to identify recurring insecure patterns. Evaluations on 117 models across three architectures and multiple sizes show over 97% detection accuracy with fewer false positives compared to prior methods.

By Shenao Yan, Shan Jin, Shimaa Ahmed, Sunpreet Singh Arora, Yiwei Cai, Yizhen Wang, Yuan Hong
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 6

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Code Language Models for Security Patch Detection

arXiv:2605. 13138v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Automated detection of vulnerability-fixing commits (\vfcs) is critical for timely security patch deployment, as advisory databases lag patch releases by a median of 25 days and many fixes never receive advisories.

By Nils Loose, Joseph Bienh\"uls, Kristoffer Hempel, Felix M\"achtle, Thomas Eisenbarth
arXiv AI
Aug 19

Probing the Prefill: Detecting Code Vulnerabilities via Latent Activations

The paper investigates whether the hidden activations of large language models (LLMs) contain signals about the vulnerability of C/C++ code when the code is provided as context. By extracting prefill token activations from four LLMs and training small MLP probes, the authors achieve an average F1 score of 41.7% across four benchmarks, with the best probe matching state‑of‑the‑art fine‑tuned classifiers on the Devign dataset. The results suggest that a coding LLM’s internal representation can inform vulnerability detection, opening the door to lightweight, model‑native screening methods.

By Alizishaan Khatri
arXiv Machine Learning
Oct 28

VulDec: Vulnerability Detection in Binaries via Neural Decompilation

VulDec is a new framework for detecting vulnerabilities in binary executables. It introduces a large, curated dataset that pairs real-world assembly functions with source code and detailed CWE annotations across multiple architectures. Using LLM-based neural decompilers trained on this dataset, the system achieves strong source-level recovery and a macro F1-score of 0.61 on realistic test data, demonstrating that neural decompilation can effectively replace traditional low-level binary representations for vulnerability detection.

By Francesco Crescenzo Grasso, Pietro Liguori, Roberto Natella, Domenico Cotroneo