A Famous Refrain: AFL + QEMU = CVEs

In this chapter, we will focus on finding our first vulnerability, which is a VLC remote code execution from 2011, also known as CVE-2011-0531. We will start by discussing a user space program vulnerability and how we can discover it using a fuzzer. Then, we will take another step and apply the fuzzer to an entire system to perform full-system fuzzing and vulnerability discovery.

We will begin by explaining the process of finding a single program vulnerability using a fuzzer, which is easier to grasp conceptually. Then, we will use the example of VLC to illustrate the principles of fuzzing and vulnerability research. Later on, we will apply the same approach to a full-system fuzzing harness.

Overall, we aim to provide a clear and comprehensive guide to the process of fuzzing and vulnerability discovery. By starting with a single program and gradually moving to full-system fuzzing, we hope to equip readers with a solid understanding of the fundamentals...