Research
We conduct various research on software security. Representative current research topics are as follows.
Open-source Software Security & Supply Chain Security & Vulnerability Detection
The reuse of open-source software (OSS) provides efficiency for developers. However, unmanaged OSS reuse may lead to the propagation of vulnerabilities. We have conducted research to devise scalable and precise vulnerability detection techniques aimed at resolving security threats caused by vulnerable OSS reuse. Our techniques can actually be used to resolve vulnerabilities in real-world popular software programs (e.g., Android, Redis, Mozjpeg, etc.). In addition, our research papers have been published in international conferences, including VUDDY [S&P ‘17], MOVERY [USENIX Security ‘22], V1SCAN [USENIX Security ‘23], TIVER [ICSE ‘25], SBridge [FSE ‘26], Uncovering [FSE ‘26], and GANADI [ASE ‘26].
- [2017.05] “고려대, ‘재사용 코드’ 자동 탐지 기술 개발” (KR)
- [2022.09] “이희조 고려대 교수팀 , 취약 코드 탐지 MOVERY 기술 개발” (KR)
- [2023.09] “이희조, 우승훈 고려대 컴퓨터학과 교수 연구팀, 오픈소스 소프트웨어 취약점 탐지 기술 V1SCAN 개발” (KR)
- [2025.06] “고려대 우승훈 교수팀, 오픈소스 보안 취약점 분석 기술 ‘TIVER’ 개발” (KR)
- [2026.07] “고려대 우승훈 교수팀, 소프트웨어 보안 위협 추적 기술 개발” (KR)
- [2026.11] “고려대, 오픈소스 코드의 ‘숨은 재사용 경로’ 밝혀” (KR)
Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
Identifying what and how OSS projects are reused in the software program is the very first step towards ensuring software security. Our research can precisely identify third-party OSS components from the target software codebase, especially in C/C++ languages where identifying OSS components is challenging. The results of the research have been published in international conferences, including CENTRIS [ICSE ‘21] and CNEPS [ICSE ‘24].
Security for AI & AI for Security
As AI becomes a core component of modern software systems, security risks arise not only from traditional code vulnerabilities but also from models, prompts, agents, data, and AI software supply chains. We investigate these emerging threats and develop techniques to analyze and mitigate security risks in AI-based systems. In addition, we leverage AI techniques to improve software security analysis. Our research explores LLM-assisted approaches for vulnerability detection, security patch analysis, and API misuse identification, with the goal of making security analysis more accurate and practical. The results of the research have been published in international conferences, including CRYPTBARA [ASE ‘25].
Security Patch Analysis
Assessing the quality of security patches provided through public vulnerability databases (e.g., NVD) is an essential task for proper vulnerability resolution. We have conducted research ranging from effective methods of collecting security patches to techniques for verifying their quality. The results of our research have been presented in international conferences and journals as papers, including V0Finder [USENIX Security ‘21], xVDB [IEEE ACCESS ‘22], and Clovery [IFIPSEC ‘26].