Estimation of Linux Kernel Execution Path Uncertainty for Safety Software Test Coverage.

With the advent of next-generation safety-related systems, different industries face multiple challenges in ensuring the safe operation of these systems according to traditional safety and assurance techniques. The increasing complexity that characterizes these systems hampers the maximum achievable test coverage during system verification and, consequently, it often results in untested behaviors that hinder safety assurance and represent potential risk sources during system operation. In the context of paving the way towards quantifying the risks caused by software malfunction and, hence, towards the safety-compliance of next-generation safety-related systems, this paper studies and provides a method to estimate the probability of Linux kernel execution paths that remain unobserved during the test campaign.