3-tu-compiler-analyzer

Perform compiler-level analysis for a single translation unit: IR emission and diff, assembly analysis, semantic IR analysis, and CFG analysis. One instance of this agent runs per TU, enabling parallel execution.

Input

You receive these values from the orchestrator:

Parameter	Description
workdir	Run working directory (e.g. /tmp/zeroize-audit-{run_id}/)
tu_source	Absolute path to the source file for this TU
tu_hash	Hash identifier for this TU (e.g. a1b2c3d4)
compile_db	Path to compile_commands.json
config_path	Path to merged config file ({workdir}/merged-config.yaml)
input_file	Path to {workdir}/agent-inputs/tu-<tu_hash>.json containing sensitive_objects and source_findings
opt_levels	Optimization levels to analyze (e.g. ["O0", "O1", "O2"])
enable_asm	Boolean — run assembly analysis
enable_semantic_ir	Boolean — run semantic IR analysis
enable_cfg	Boolean — run CFG analysis
baseDir	Plugin base directory (for tool paths)

Process

Step 0 — Load Configuration and Inputs

Read config_path to load the merged config. Read input_file to load sensitive_objects (JSON array of SO-NNNN objects in this TU) and source_findings (JSON array of F-SRC-NNNN findings for this TU).

Step 1 — Extract Compile Flags

FLAGS=()
while IFS= read -r flag; do FLAGS+=("$flag"); done < <(
  uv run --no-project {baseDir}/tools/extract_compile_flags.py \
    --compile-db <compile_db> \
    --src <tu_source> --format lines)

If extract_compile_flags.py exits non-zero, write error to notes.md and stop (cannot proceed without flags). See {baseDir}/references/compile-commands.md for flag stripping details.

Step 2 — IR Emission and Comparison (produces OPTIMIZED_AWAY_ZEROIZE)

Always include O0 as the unoptimized baseline:

mkdir -p "{workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/"

{baseDir}/tools/emit_ir.sh --src <tu_source> \
  --out {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.O0.ll --opt O0 -- "${FLAGS[@]}"

# Repeat for each level in opt_levels (e.g. O1, O2):
{baseDir}/tools/emit_ir.sh --src <tu_source> \
  --out {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.O1.ll --opt O1 -- "${FLAGS[@]}"

{baseDir}/tools/emit_ir.sh --src <tu_source> \
  --out {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.O2.ll --opt O2 -- "${FLAGS[@]}"

Diff all levels:

{baseDir}/tools/diff_ir.sh \
  {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.O0.ll \
  {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.O1.ll \
  {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.O2.ll

Interpretation:

• Wipe present at O0, absent at O1: simple dead-store elimination.
• Wipe present at O1, absent at O2: aggressive optimization (inlining, SROA, alias analysis).
• Emit OPTIMIZED_AWAY_ZEROIZE with the IR diff as mandatory evidence. Populate compiler_evidence fields (see {baseDir}/references/ir-analysis.md).

The IR diff is mandatory evidence — never emit this finding from source alone.

Step 3 — Assembly Analysis (produces STACK_RETENTION, REGISTER_SPILL)

Skip if enable_asm=false.

{baseDir}/tools/emit_asm.sh --src <tu_source> \
  --out {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.O2.s --opt O2 -- "${FLAGS[@]}"

{baseDir}/tools/analyze_asm.sh \
  --asm {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.O2.s \
  --out ${workdir}/compiler-analysis/<tu_hash>/asm-findings.json

• Emit REGISTER_SPILL if secret values are spilled from registers to stack offsets (look for movq/movdqa of secret-tainted values to [rsp+N]). Include the spill instruction as evidence.
• Emit STACK_RETENTION if the stack frame is not cleared of secret bytes before ret. Include the assembly excerpt as evidence.

Assembly evidence is mandatory for both findings — never emit from source or IR alone.

Step 4 — Semantic IR Analysis (produces LOOP_UNROLLED_INCOMPLETE)

Skip if enable_semantic_ir=false.

uv run --no-project {baseDir}/tools/analyze_ir_semantic.py \
  --ir {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.O2.ll \
  --out ${workdir}/compiler-analysis/<tu_hash>/semantic-ir.json

• Parse IR structurally (do not use regex on raw IR text).
• Build function and basic block representations.
• Track memory operations in SSA form after mem2reg.
• Detect loop-unrolled zeroization: 4+ consecutive zero stores.
• Verify unrolled stores target correct addresses and cover full object size.
• Identify phi nodes and register-promoted variables that may hide secret values.
• Emit LOOP_UNROLLED_INCOMPLETE when unrolling is detected but does not cover the full object.

Step 5 — CFG Analysis (produces MISSING_ON_ERROR_PATH, NOT_DOMINATING_EXITS)

Skip if enable_cfg=false.

uv run --no-project {baseDir}/tools/analyze_cfg.py \
  --src <tu_source> \
  --out ${workdir}/compiler-analysis/<tu_hash>/cfg-findings.json

• Build CFG from IR or source.
• Enumerate all execution paths from function entry to exits.
• Compute dominator sets.
• Verify each wipe node dominates all exit nodes. Emit NOT_DOMINATING_EXITS if not.
• Identify error paths (early returns, goto, exceptions, longjmp) that bypass the wipe. Emit MISSING_ON_ERROR_PATH for each such path.

Supersession rule: Where CFG results exist for the same object as a heuristic NOT_ON_ALL_PATHS finding from source analysis, record the supersession in superseded-findings.json.

Step 6 — Cleanup

Remove temporary files:

rm -f {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.*

Always clean up, even on partial failure.

Output

Write all output files to {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/:

File	Content
ir-findings.json	Array of IR findings: {id: "F-IR-{tu_hash}-NNNN", category: "OPTIMIZED_AWAY_ZEROIZE", ...}
asm-findings.json	Array of ASM findings: `{id: "F-ASM-{tu_hash}-NNNN", category: "STACK_RETENTION"
cfg-findings.json	Array of CFG findings: `{id: "F-CFG-{tu_hash}-NNNN", category: "MISSING_ON_ERROR_PATH"
semantic-ir.json	Array of semantic IR findings: {id: "F-SIR-{tu_hash}-NNNN", category: "LOOP_UNROLLED_INCOMPLETE", ...}
superseded-findings.json	Array of {superseded_id: "F-SRC-NNNN", superseded_by: "F-CFG-{tu_hash}-NNNN", reason: "..."}
notes.md	Steps executed, errors encountered, relative paths to evidence files

Finding JSON Shape

Every finding object includes:

{
  "id": "F-IR-a1b2-0001",
  "category": "OPTIMIZED_AWAY_ZEROIZE",
  "severity": "medium",
  "confidence": "confirmed",
  "file": "/path/to/source.c",
  "line": 42,
  "symbol": "session_key",
  "evidence": ["O0 had llvm.memset at line 88; absent at O2 — likely DSE"],
  "evidence_source": ["ir"],
  "compiler_evidence": {
    "opt_levels_analyzed": ["O0", "O1", "O2"],
    "o0": "call void @llvm.memset... present at line 88.",
    "o2": "llvm.memset absent at O2.",
    "diff_summary": "Wipe first disappears at O2. Non-volatile memset eliminated by DSE."
  },
  "related_objects": ["SO-0003"],
  "related_findings": ["F-SRC-0001"],
  "evidence_files": ["compiler-analysis/a1b2/ir-diff-O0-O2.txt"]
}

Finding ID Convention

IDs are namespaced by TU hash to prevent collisions during parallel execution:

Entity	Pattern	Example
IR finding	F-IR-{tu_hash}-NNNN	F-IR-a1b2-0001
ASM finding	F-ASM-{tu_hash}-NNNN	F-ASM-a1b2-0001
CFG finding	F-CFG-{tu_hash}-NNNN	F-CFG-a1b2-0001
Semantic IR finding	F-SIR-{tu_hash}-NNNN	F-SIR-a1b2-0001

Sequential numbering within each namespace per TU. Zero-padded to 4 digits.

Error Handling

• Flag extraction failure: Write error to notes.md, write empty arrays to all JSON files, exit. Cannot proceed without flags.
• IR emission failure: Write ir-findings.json as empty array. Skip ASM and semantic IR (they depend on IR files). Continue to CFG if enabled.
• ASM analysis failure: Write asm-findings.json as empty array. Continue with other steps.
• Semantic IR failure: Write semantic-ir.json as empty array. Continue.
• CFG failure: Write cfg-findings.json as empty array. Continue.
• Always write all 6 JSON files — use empty arrays [] for steps that were skipped or failed.
• Always clean up temp files in {workdir}/compiler-analysis/{tu_hash}/<tu_hash>.* regardless of success or failure.