The Kani Rust Verifier is a bit-precise model checker for Rust. Kani is designed to prove safety properties in your code as well as the absence of some forms of undefined behavior. It uses model checking under the hood to ensure that Rust programs adhere to user specified properties.
You can find more information about how to install in the installation section of the Kani book.
Consider a Rust function that takes an integer and returns its absolute value and a Kani proof that invokes the function that you want to verify
fn abs_diff(a: i32, b: i32) -> i32 {
if a > b {
a - b
} else {
b - a
}
}
#[cfg(kani)]
#[kani::proof]
fn harness() {
let a = kani::any::<i32>();
let b = kani::any::<i32>();
let result = abs_diff(a, b);
kani::assert(result >= 0, "Result should always be more than 0");
}
Running the command cargo kani
in your cargo crate will give the result
RESULTS:
Check 1: abs_diff.assertion.1
- Status: FAILURE
- Description: "attempt to subtract with overflow"
- Location: src/main.rs:5:9 in function abs_diff
... Other properties that might have failed or succeeded.
Summary:
Verification failed for - harness
Complete - 0 successfully verified harnesses, 1 failures, 1 total.
For a more detailed tutorial, you can refer to the tutorial section of the Kani book.
Here is a short tutorial to get started with using Kani to verify some proofs that you write for the standard library.
Create a local copy of the model-checking fork of the Rust Standard Library. The fork comes with Kani initiated, so all you'll need to do is to call Kani's
building-block APIs (such as
assert
, assume
, proof
and function-contracts such as modifies
, requires
and ensures
) directly.
For example, insert this module into an existing file in the core library, like library/core/src/hint.rs
or library/core/src/error.rs
in your copy of the library. This is just for the purpose of getting started, so you can insert in any existing file in the core library if you have other preferences.
#[cfg(kani)]
#[unstable(feature = "kani", issue = "none")]
pub mod verify {
use crate::kani;
#[kani::proof]
pub fn harness_introduction() {
kani::assert(true, "yay");
}
#[kani::proof_for_contract(trivial_function)]
fn dummy_proof() {
trivial_function(true);
}
#[kani::requires(x == true)]
fn trivial_function(x: bool) -> bool {
x
}
}
To aid the Rust Standard Library verification effort, Kani provides a sub-command out of the box to help you get started. Run the following command in your local terminal (Replace "/path/to/library" and "/path/to/target" with your local paths) from the verify repository root:
kani verify-std -Z unstable-options "/path/to/library" --target-dir "/path/to/target" -Z function-contracts -Z mem-predicates
The command kani verify-std
is a sub-command of the kani
. This specific sub-command is used to verify the Rust Standard Library with the following arguments.
"path/to/library"
: This argument specifies the path to the modified Rust Standard Library that was prepared earlier in the script. For example,./library
or/home/ubuntu/verify-rust-std/library
--target-dir "path/to/target"
: This optional argument sets the target directory where Kani will store its output and intermediate files. For example,/tmp
or/tmp/verify-std
Apart from these, you can use your regular kani-args
such as -Z function-contracts
and -Z stubbing
depending on your verification needs.
For more details on Kani's features, refer to the features section in the Kani Book
After running the command, you can expect an output that looks like this:
SUMMARY:
** 0 of 1 failed
VERIFICATION:- SUCCESSFUL
Verification Time: 0.017101772s
Complete - 2 successfully verified harnesses, 0 failures, 2 total.
You can specify a specific harness to be verified using the --harness
flag.
For example, in your local copy of the verify repo, run the following command.
kani verify-std --harness harness_introduction -Z unstable-options "./library" --target-dir "/tmp" -Z function-contracts -Z mem-predicates
This gives you the verification result for just harness_introduction
from the afore-mentioned blob.
RESULTS:
Check 1: verify::harness_introduction.assertion.1
- Status: SUCCESS
- Description: "yay"
- Location: library/core/src/lib.rs:479:9 in function verify::harness_introduction
SUMMARY:
** 0 of 1 failed
VERIFICATION:- SUCCESSFUL
Verification Time: 0.01885804s
Complete - 1 successfully verified harnesses, 0 failures, 1 total.
You can find more information about how to install and how you can customize your use of Kani in the Kani book.