arXiv:2608.11340cs.NIcs.AI2026-08

让网络验证器自动学习真实路由器行为,减少人工建模负担。

Self-evolving network verifiers

  • 用路由器软件作为真实行为源,通过对比纠错自动优化验证模型。
  • 原型系统成功教会验证器支持OSPF区域、BGP路由反射等3个新功能。
  • 适合需要持续验证的复杂网络,降低运维门槛。

符号化网络验证器能推理海量路由输入和故障场景下的正确性,但仅限于专家手动编码的协议与特性。构建和维护控制平面的准确模型既困难又永无止境,因为没有文档能完全描述网络实际行为:厂商实现偏离RFC规范,且随版本迭代变化。持续维护的负担使验证难以普及。我们主张模型应自动演化以忠实捕捉实际网络行为。为此,利用唯一明确描述行为的来源——路由器软件本身。在反例引导的循环中,一个编程代理提出对验证器符号编码的扩展,而可信的权威(如模拟路由器)提供真实路由状态。代理基于每次与权威的分歧不断精炼网络模型。初步实验表明,该系统原型成功让一个3000行的SMT基础验证器自主学会三个原不支持的功能:OSPF区域、BGP路由反射和基于EVPN的L3VPN,收敛至与权威一致的模型,甚至发现了厂商特定行为。自动化模型演进将难题从编写验证系统转向系统性测试它们;我们提出了信任并利用自动演化的验证器的研究方向。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Symbolic network verifiers can reason about correctness across vast spaces of routing inputs and failures, but only for the protocols and features an expert has encoded by hand. Creating and maintaining a faithful model of the control plane is both difficult and never-ending, since no written source specifies perfectly what a network does: vendor implementations deviate from the RFCs, and behaviour shifts with releases. The burden of constant upkeep ultimately keeps verification out of many networks that need it. We argue that the model should instead evolve automatically to faithfully capture the actual network behaviour. To achieve that, we leverage the only source that specifies it unambiguously: the router software itself. In a counterexample-guided loop, a coding agent proposes extensions to the verifier's symbolic encoding, while a trusted oracle (e.g., emulated routers) supplies the ground-truth routing state. The agent iteratively refines the network model using each disagreement with the oracle. As early evidence, a prototype of this system taught a 3,000-line SMT-based verifier three features it did not support: OSPF areas, BGP route reflection, and L3VPN over EVPN, converging autonomously on models that match the oracle, even noticing vendor-specific behaviour. Automating model growth shifts the hard problem from writing verification systems to systematically testing them; we propose a research agenda for trusting and harnessing automatically evolved verifiers.

网络验证自动演进SMT求解路由器仿真

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