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AFL quick start guide

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You should read docs/README. It's pretty short. If you really can't, here's
how to hit the ground running:

1) Compile AFL with 'make'. If build fails, see docs/INSTALL for tips.

2) Find or write a reasonably fast and simple program that takes data from
a file or stdin, processes it in a test-worthy way, then exits cleanly.
If testing a network service, modify it to run in the foreground and read
from stdin. When fuzzing a format that uses checksums, comment out the
checksum verification code, too.

The program must crash properly when a fault is encountered. Watch out for
custom SIGSEGV or SIGABRT handlers and background processes.

3) Compile the program / library to be fuzzed using afl-gcc. A common way to

do this would be:

CC=/path/to/afl-gcc CXX=/path/to/afl-g++ ./configure --disable-shared

make clean all

If program build fails, ping <afl-users@googlegroups.com>.

4) Get a small but valid input file that makes sense to the program. When
fuzzing verbose syntax (SQL, HTTP, etc), create a dictionary as described in
testcases/README.testcases, too.

5) If the program reads from stdin, run 'afl-fuzz' like so:

./afl-fuzz -i testcase_dir -o findings_dir -- \

/path/to/tested/program [...program's cmdline...]

If the program takes input from a file, you can put @@ in the program's
command line; AFL will put an auto-generated file name in there for you.

6) Investigate anything shown in red in the fuzzer UI by promptly consulting

docs/status_screen.txt.

That's it. Sit back, relax, and - time permitting - try to skim through the
following files:

- docs/README - A general introduction to AFL,

- docs/perf_tips.txt - Simple tips on how to fuzz more quickly,
- docs/status_screen.txt - An explanation of the tidbits shown in the UI,
- docs/parallel_fuzzing.txt - Advice on running AFL on multiple cores.