I obtained my Ph.D. from the College of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University in 2022, and spent the final half year as a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Computer Science at Northwestern University.
Prior to that, I received my B.Sc in Computer Science from Nanjing University in 2017.
I was also a recipient of the 2020-2022 IBM Ph.D. Fellowship.
I currently lead the Abstract Team, where our research focuses on Exploit Analysis and Synthesis, Quantum Control System, and Machine Learning for Systems. I am also the faculty advisor of CU Cyber Club.
News
[ 2025.09 ] Received $1.5M award from NSF Safe-OSE program
[ 2025.08 ] Team 42-b3yond-6ug's CRS ranked #1 in SARIF assessment and #2 in vulnerability
discovery in DARPA/ARPA-H AIxCC final
[ 2025.07 ] QEX is accepted to IEEE Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE). Congrats to Yicheng!
[ 2025.05 ] Lancet is accepted to USENIX Security 2025. Congrats to Qinrun!
[ 2024.08 ] Team 42-b3yond-6ug wins DARPA/ARPA-H AIxCC semi-final and is awarded $2M towards final!
The Abstract Team
Current Members
- Qinrun Dai , Ph.D. Student, [2024.08 - present]
Exploit Analysis and Synthesis, Core member of 42-b3yond-6ug team
[USENIX Security 25, BlackHat USA 24, Linux Security Summit EU 24]
- Yicheng Guang, Ph.D. Student, [2024.08 - present]
Quantum Control System, Affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
[USENIX Security 24, IEEE QCE 25]
- Sriranga Ramaswamy, Ph.D. Student, [2024.08 - present]
Machine Learning for System, Co-advised with Ashutosh Trivedi
- Ruitong Liu, Visiting Scholar, [2025.08 - present]
Exploit Analysis and Synthesis, Core member of 42-b3yond-6ug team
Alumni
- Pietro Zanotta, Student Intern through Europe-Colorado Program, [2024.09 - 2025.01]
Now Ph.D. Student at Johns Hopkins University
[IEEE QCE 25]
- Akshay Gowda, Research-based Master, [2023.09 - 2024.12]
Now Senior Security Engineer at Tesla
Member of 42-b3yond-6ug team
- Zicheng Wang, Visiting Scholar, [2023.01 - 2024.01]
Now Senior OS Engineer at Honor Device
[USENIX Security 24, BlackHat USA 24, USENIX Security 23, Linux Security Summit NA 23, BlackHat USA 23a]
- Minghao Lin, Visiting Scholar, [2023.01 - 2023.07]
Now Ph.D. Student at University of South California
[SpaceSec 23, BlackHat USA 23a, BlackHat USA 23b]
Teaching
- CSCI 5573 Advanced Operating Systems, 2025 Fall
- CSCI 3753 Design and Analysis of Operating Systems, 2025 Spring
- CSCI 4133 / ECEN 4133 Fundamentals of Computer Security, 2024 Fall
- CSCI 3753 Design and Analysis of Operating Systems, 2024 Spring
- CSCI 5523 / ECEN 5033 Modern Offense and Defense in Cybersecurity, 2023 Fall
[ CTF Platform (Only Accessible to Boulder Students)]
- CSCI 7000 / ECEN 5033 Modern Offense and Defense in Cybersecurity, 2023 Spring
- CSCI 7000-007 Advanced System Security, Instructor, 2022 Fall
Publication
- On the Potential of Quantum Computing in Classical Program Analysis
Yicheng Guang, Pietro Zanotta, Kai Zhou, Yueqi Chen, Ramin Ayanzadeh
IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE) 2025
- Lancet: A Formalization Framework for Crash and Exploit Pathology
Qinrun Dai, Kirby Linvill, Yueqi Chen, Gowtham Kaki
USENIX Security Symposium (Security) 2025
[ Code ]
AE Badges: Available, Functional, Reproduced
- SeaK: Rethinking the Design of a Secure Allocator for OS Kernel
Zicheng Wang, Yicheng Guang, Yueqi Chen, Zhenpeng Lin, Michael Le, Dang K Le, Dan Williams, Xinyu Xing, Zhongshu Gu, Hani Jamjoom
USENIX Security Symposium (Security) 2024
[ Code ]
AE Badges: Available, Functional, Reproduced
[ US Patent Application No.: 18/658,565 ]
- TGRop: Top Gun of Return-Oriented Programming Automation
Nanyu Zhong, Yueqi Chen, Yanyan Zou, Xinyu Xing, Jinwei Dong, Bingcheng Xian, Jiaxu Zhao, Menghao Li, Binghong Liu, Wei Huo
European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS) 2024
[ Code ]
- PET: Prevent Discovered Errors from Being Triggered in the Linux Kernel
Zicheng Wang, Yueqi Chen, Qingkai Zeng
USENIX Security Symposium (Security) 2023
[ Code ]
AE Badges: Available, Functional, Reproduced
[ US Patent Application No.: 18/658,565 ]
- Mitigating Security Risks in Linux with KLAUS: A Method for Evaluating Patch Correctness
Yuhang Wu, Zhenpeng Lin, Yueqi Chen, Dang K Le, Dongliang Mu, Xinyu Xing
USENIX Security Symposium (Security) 2023
CSAW Applied Research Competition Top-10 Finalists 2023
AE Badges: Available, Functional, Reproduced
- CLExtract: Recovering Highly Corrupted DVB/GSE Satellite Stream with Contrastive Learning
Minghao Lin, Minghao Cheng, Dongsheng Luo, Yueqi Chen
Workshop on the Security of Space and Satellite Systems (SpaceSec) 2023
- Playing for K(H)eaps: Understanding and Improving Linux Kernel Exploit Reliability
Yueqi Chen*, Kyle Zeng*, Haehyun Cho, Xinyu Xing, Adam Doupé, Yan Shoshitaishvili, Tiffany Bao
USENIX Security Symposium (Security) 2022
AE Badges: Available, Functional, Reproduced
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code ]
* indicates equal contribution
- An In-depth Analysis of Duplicated Linux Kernel Bug Reports
Dongliang Mu, Yuhang Wu, Yueqi Chen, Zhenpeng Lin, Chensheng Yu, Xinyu Xing, Gang Wang
Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS) 2022
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code ]
- GREBE: Unveiling Exploitation Potential for Linux Kernel Bugs
Zhenpeng Lin, Yueqi Chen, Dongliang Mu, Chengsheng Yu, Yuhang Wu, Xinyu Xing, Kang Li
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP) 2022
CSAW Applied Research Competition Top-10 Finalists 2022
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code ]
- (ELOISE) A Systematic Study of Elastic Objects in Kernel Exploitation
Yueqi Chen, Zhenpeng Lin, Xinyu Xing
ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS) 2020
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code]
- (Symo3) Exposing Cache Timing Side-channel Leaks through Out-of-order Symbolic Execution
Yueqi Chen*, Shengjian Guo*, Jiyong Yu, Meng Wu, Zhiqiang Zuo, Peng Li, Yueqiang Cheng
The Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications (OOPSLA) 2020
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code]
* indicates equal contribution
- SpecuSym: Speculative Symbolic Execution for Cache Timing Leak Detection
Yueqi Chen*, Shengjian Guo*, Peng Li, Yueqiang Cheng, Huibo Wang, Meng Wu, Zhiqiang Zuo
International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) 2020
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code ]
* indicates equal contribution
- SLAKE: Facilitating Slab Manipulation for Exploiting Vulnerabilities in the Linux Kernel
Yueqi Chen, Xinyu Xing
ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS) 2019
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code ]
[ Video ]
- Towards the Detection of Inconsistencies in Public Security Vulnerability Reports
Ying Dong, Wenbo Guo, Yueqi Chen, Xinyu Xing, Yuqing Zhang, Gang Wang
USENIX Security Symposium (Security) 2019
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code ]
[ Video ]
- RENN: Efficient Reverse Execution with Neural-Network-assisted Alias Analysis
Dongliang Mu, Wenbo Guo, Alejandro Cuevas, Yueqi Chen, Jinxuan Gai, Xinyu Xing, Bing Mao, Chengyu Song
International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE) 2019
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code ]
- KEPLER: Facilitating Control-flow Hijacking Primitive Evaluation for Linux Kernel Vulnerabilities
Wei Wu, Yueqi Chen, Xinyu Xing, Wei Zou
USENIX Security Symposium (Security) 2019
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code ]
- FUZE: Towards Facilitating Exploit Generation for Kernel Use-After-Free Vulnerabilities
Wei Wu, Yueqi Chen, Jun Xu, Xinyu Xing, Wei Zou, Xiaorui Gong
USENIX Security Symposium (Security) 2018
[ Paper ]
[ Slides ]
[ Code ]
Other Publications
- Compartmentalizing Vulnerable Kernel Components Without Stopping the Machine
Qinrun Dai, Yueqi Chen
Linux Security Summit Europe 2024
- Stop! Sandboxing Exploitable Functions and Modules Using In-Kernel Machine Learning
Qinrun Dai, Tiejin Chen, Zicheng Wang, Hua Wei, Yueqi Chen
BlackHat USA 2024 Briefing
- Kill Latest MPU-based Protections in Just One Shot: Targeting All Commodity RTOSes
Minghao Lin, Zicheng Wang, Jiahe Wang, Chaoyang Lin, Minghang Shen, Yueqi Chen
BlackHat USA 2023 Briefing (a)
- An End-to-End Tool Decoding Highly Corrupted Satellite Stream from Eavesdropping
Minghao Lin, Minghao Cheng, Xu Zheng, Dongsheng Luo, Yueqi Chen
BlackHat USA 2023 Arsenal (b)
- HotBPF++: A More Powerful Memory Protection for the Linux Kernel
Zicheng Wang, Yueqi Chen
Linux Security Summit North America 2023
- HotBPF - An On-demand and On-the-fly Memory Protection for the Linux Kernel
Yueqi Chen, Zhenpeng Lin
Linux Security Summit Europe 2022
- A General Approach to Bypassing Many Kernel Protections and Its Mitigation
Yueqi Chen, Zhenpeng Lin, Xinyu Xing
BlackHat Asia 2021
- Your Trash Kernel Bug, My Precious 0-day
Zhenpeng Lin, Yueqi Chen, Xinyu Xing, Kang Li
BlackHat Europe 2021
- Finding Multiple Bug Effects for More Precise Exploitability Estimation
Zhenpeng Lin, Yueqi Chen
Linux Security Summit North America 2021
- Bypassing Many Kernel Protections Using Elastic Objects
Yueqi Chen, Zhenpeng Lin, Xinyu Xing
Linux Security Summit Europe 2020
[ Slides ]
- Facilitate Linux Kernel Exploitation Step by Step
Yueqi Chen
BlueHat IL 2020
[ Slides ]
- Hands Off and Putting SLAB/SLUB Feng Shui in a Blackbox
Yueqi Chen, Xinyu Xing, Jimmy Su
Black Hat Europe 2019
[ Slides ]
[ Video ]
[ Demo1 ]
[ Demo2 ]
Honors & Awards
-
$2M Award from DARPA for winning AIxCC semi-final, Aug. 2024
-
$1M Award from DARPA for AIxCC competition, Feb. 2024
-
CSAW Applied Research Competition Top-10 Finalists, Oct. 2023
-
CSAW Applied Research Competition Top-10 Finalists, Oct. 2022
-
The 7th place in DEFCON 29 CTF (Team Nu1L), Las Vegas, USA, Aug. 2021
-
Black Hat USA, Student Scholarship, 2021
-
IST Graduate Student Travel Grant Award, 2020
-
Black Hat USA, Student Scholarship, 2020
-
IBM PhD Fellowship Award, 2020 (1 out of 24 globally)
[ Press 1 ]
[ Press 2 ]
-
IST Graduate Student Travel Grant Award, 2019
-
The 28th USENIX Security Symposium, Student Travel Grant Award, 2019
-
The 16th place in DEFCON 26 CTF (Team r3kapig), Las Vegas, USA, Aug. 2018
-
Black Hat USA, Student Scholarship, 2018
-
The 39th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, Student Travel Grant Award, 2018
-
The 5th place in NSA codebreaker Challenge, 2017
Services
-
Panelist
NSF SaTC Program, 2025
NSF SaTC Program, 2023
-
Donation Chair
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P), 2024
-
Session Chair
IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE), 2025
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P), 2022
-
Reviewer and Program Committee
IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE), 2025
International Symposium on Research in Attacks, Intrusions and Defenses (RAID), 2025
Workshop on the Security of Space and Satellite Systems (SpaceSec), 2024
ACM Conference on Computer and Communication Security (CCS), 2023
International Symposium on Research in Attacks, Intrusions and Defenses (RAID), 2023 Especially Noteworthy Reviewer
IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, 2023
International Symposium on Research in Attacks, Intrusions and Defenses (RAID), 2022
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P) Poster, 2022
ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security, 2021
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P) Shadow PC, 2021
-
External reviewer
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P), 2023
IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P), 2022
USENIX Security, 2021
USENIX Security, 2020
ACM Conference on Computer and Communication Security (CCS), 2020
Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC), 2020
ACM Conference on Computer and Communication Security (CCS), 2019
European Symposium on Research on Computer Security (ESORICS), 2019
Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC), 2019
Information Security Conference (ISC), 2019
ACM Asia Conference on Information, Computer and Communication Security (ASIACCS), 2018
IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS), 2019
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