Automated inductive verification of parameterized protocols

Abstract

A parameterized concurrent system represents an infinite family (of finite state systems) parameterized by a recursively defined type such as chains, trees. It is therefore natural to verify parameterized systems by inducting over this type. We employ a program transformation based proof methodology to automate such induction proofs. Our proof technique is geared to automate nested induction proofs which do not involve strengthening of induction hypothesis. Based on this technique, we have designed and implemented a prover for parameterized protocols. The prover has been used to automatically verify safety properties of parameterized cache coherence protocols, including broadcast protocols and protocols with global conditions. Furthermore we also describe its successful use in verifying mutual exclusion in the Java Meta-Locking Algorithm, developed recently by Sun Microsystems for ensuring secure access of Java objects by an arbitrary number of Java threads.