Ethan Cecchetti

dblp:177/2245 · DBLP profile ↗
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14ranked-venue papers
5as first author
8since 2021 · last 2026
0000-0001-7900-8328ORCID · verified

Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several

Security and privacy · 8 · 5 first-author · 3 since 2021Software engineering, systems software and programming languages · 6 · 5 since 2021
YearPublicationVenuePosition
2026 Generating Compilers for Qubit Mapping and Routing
abstract
To evaluate a quantum circuit on a quantum processor, one must find a mapping from circuit qubits to processor qubits and plan the instruction execution while satisfying the processor’s constraints. This is known as the qubit mapping and routing ( qmr ) problem. High-quality qmr solutions are key to maximizing the utility of scarce quantum resources and minimizing the probability of logical errors affecting computation. The challenge is that the landscape of quantum processors is incredibly diverse and fast-evolving. Given this diversity, dozens of papers have addressed the qmr problem for different qubit hardware, connectivity constraints, and quantum error correction schemes by a developing a new algorithm for a particular context. We present an alternative approach: automatically generating qubit mapping and routing compilers for arbitrary quantum processors. Though each qmr problem is different, we identify a common core structure— device state machine —that we use to formulate an abstract qmr problem . Our formulation naturally leads to a compact domain-specific language for specifying qmr problems and a powerful parametric algorithm that can be instantiated for any qmr specification. Our thorough evaluation on case studies of important qmr problems shows that generated compilers are competitive with handwritten, specialized compilers in terms of runtime and solution quality.
Abtin Molavi, Amanda Xu, Ethan Cecchetti, Swamit S. Tannu, Aws Albarghouthi
Proc. ACM Program. Lang.3
2025 Nonmalleable Progress Leakage
abstract
Information-flow control systems often enforce progress-insensitive noninterference, as it is simple to understand and enforce. Unfortunately, real programs need to declassify results and endorse inputs, which noninterference disallows, while preventing attackers from controlling leakage, including through progress channels, which progress-insensitivity ignores. This work combines ideas for progress-sensitive security with secure downgrading (declassification and endorsement) to identify a notion of securely downgrading progress information. We use hyperproperties to distill the separation between progress-sensitive and progress-insensitive noninterference and combine it with nonmalleable information flow, an existing (progress-insensitive) definition of secure downgrading, to define nonmalleable progress leakage (NMPL). We present the first information-flow type system to allow some progress leakage while enforcing NMPL, and we show how to infer the location of secure progress downgrades. All theorems are verified in Rocq.
Ethan Cecchetti
CSF1
2025 Choreographic Quick Changes: First-Class Location (Set) Polymorphism
abstract
Choreographic programming is a promising new paradigm for programming concurrent systems where a developer writes a single centralized program that compiles to individual programs for each node. Existing choreographic languages, however, lack critical features integral to modern systems, like the ability of one node to dynamically compute who should perform a computation and send that decision to others. This work addresses this gap with λ QC, the first typed choreographic language with first class process names and polymorphism over both types and (sets of) locations. λ QC also improves expressive power over previous work by supporting algebraic and recursive data types as well as multiply-located values. We formalize and mechanically verify our results in Rocq, including the standard choreographic guarantee of deadlock freedom.
Ashley Samuelson, Andrew K. Hirsch, Ethan Cecchetti
Proc. ACM Program. Lang.3
2024 Computationally Bounded Robust Compilation and Universally Composable Security
abstract
Universal Composability (UC) is the gold standard for cryptographic security, but mechanizing proofs of UC is notoriously difficult. A recently-discovered connection between UC and Robust Compilation (RC)-a novel theory of secure compilation-provides a means to verify UC proofs using tools that mechanize equality results. Unfortunately, the existing methods apply only to perfect UC security, and real-world protocols relying on cryptography are only computationally secure. This paper addresses this gap by lifting the connection between UC and RC to the computational setting, extending techniques from the RC setting to apply to computational UC security. Moreover, it further generalizes the UC-RC connection beyond computational security to arbitrary equalities, providing a framework to subsume the existing perfect case, and to instantiate future theories with more complex notions of security. This connection allows the use of tools for proofs of computational indistinguishability to properly mechanize proofs of computational UC security. We demonstrate this power by using CRYPTOVERIF to mechanize a proof that parts of the Wireguard protocol are computationally UC secure. Finally, all proofs of the framework itself are verified in Isabelle/HOL.
Robert Künnemann, Marco Patrignani, Ethan Cecchetti
CSF3
2024 Universal Composability Is Robust Compilation
abstract
This article discusses the relationship between two frameworks: universal composability ( \(\mathsf{UC}\) ) and robust compilation ( RC ). In cryptography, \(\mathsf{UC}\) is a framework for the specification and analysis of cryptographic protocols with a strong compositionality guarantee: \(\mathsf{UC}\) protocols remain secure even when composed with other protocols. In programming language security, RC is a novel framework for determining secure compilation by proving whether compiled programs are as secure as their source-level counterparts no matter what target-level code they interact with. Presently, these disciplines are studied in isolation, though we argue that there is a deep connection between them and exploring this connection will benefit both research fields. This article formally proves the connection between \(\mathsf{UC}\) and RC and then it explores the benefits of this connection (focussing on perfect, rather than computational \(\mathsf{UC}\) ). For this, this article first identifies which conditions must programming languages fulfil in order to possibly attain \(\mathsf{UC}\) -like composition. Then, it proves \(\mathsf{UC}\) of both an existing and a new commitment protocol as a corollary of the related compilers attaining RC . Finally, it mechanises these proofs in DEEPSEC, obtaining symbolic guarantees that the protocol is indeed \(\mathsf{UC}\) . Our connection lays the groundwork towards a better and deeper understanding of both \(\mathsf{UC}\) and RC , and the benefits we showcase from this connection provide evidence of scalable mechanised proofs for \(\mathsf{UC}\) .
Marco Patrignani, Robert Künnemann, Riad S. Wahby, Ethan Cecchetti
ACM Trans. Program. Lang. Syst.4
2023 Semantics for Noninterference with Interaction Trees
Lucas Silver, Paul He 0002, Ethan Cecchetti, Andrew K. Hirsch, Steve Zdancewic
ECOOP3
2021 Compositional Security for Reentrant Applications
abstract
The disastrous vulnerabilities in smart contracts sharply remind us of our ignorance: we do not know how to write code that is secure in composition with malicious code. Information flow control has long been proposed as a way to achieve compositional security, offering strong guarantees even when combining software from different trust domains. Unfortunately, this appealing story breaks down in the presence of reentrancy attacks. We formalize a general definition of reentrancy and introduce a security condition that allows software modules like smart contracts to protect their key invariants while retaining the expressive power of safe forms of reentrancy. We present a security type system that provably enforces secure information flow; in conjunction with run-time mechanisms, it enforces secure reentrancy even in the presence of unknown code; and it helps locate and correct recent high-profile vulnerabilities.
Ethan Cecchetti, Siqiu Yao, Haobin Ni, Andrew C. Myers
SP1
2021 Giving semantics to program-counter labels via secure effects
abstract
Type systems designed for information-flow control commonly use a program-counter label to track the sensitivity of the context and rule out data leakage arising from effectful computation in a sensitive context. Currently, type-system designers reason about this label informally except in security proofs, where they use ad-hoc techniques. We develop a framework based on monadic semantics for effects to give semantics to program-counter labels. This framework leads to three results about program-counter labels. First, we develop a new proof technique for noninterference, the core security theorem for information-flow control in effectful languages. Second, we unify notions of security for different types of effects, including state, exceptions, and nontermination. Finally, we formalize the folklore that program-counter labels are a lower bound on effects. We show that, while not universally true, this folklore has a good semantic foundation.
Andrew K. Hirsch, Ethan Cecchetti
Proc. ACM Program. Lang.2
2020 First-Order Logic for Flow-Limited Authorization
abstract
We present the Flow-Limited Authorization First-Order Logic (FLAFOL), a logic for reasoning about authorization decisions in the presence of information-flow policies. We formalize the FLAFOL proof system, characterize its proof-theoretic properties, and develop its security guarantees. In particular, FLAFOL is the first logic to provide a non-interference guarantee while supporting all connectives of first-order logic. Furthermore, this guarantee is the first to combine the notions of non-interference from both authorization logic and information-flow systems. All the theorems in this paper are proven in Coq.
Andrew K. Hirsch, Pedro H. Azevedo de Amorim, Ethan Cecchetti, Ross Tate, Owen Arden
CSF3
2019 PIEs: Public Incompressible Encodings for Decentralized Storage
abstract
We present a new primitive supporting file replication in distributed storage networks (DSNs) called a Public Incompressible Encoding (PIE). PIEs operate in the challenging public DSN setting where files must be encoded and decoded with public randomness-i.e., without encryption-and retention of redundant data must be publicly verifiable. They prevent undetectable data compression, allowing DSNs to use monetary rewards or penalties in incentivizing economically rational servers to properly replicate data. Their definition also precludes critical, demonstrated attacks involving parallelism via ASICs and other custom hardware. Our PIE construction is the first to achieve experimentally validated near-optimal performance-within a factor of 4 of optimal by one metric. It also allows decoding orders of magnitude faster than encoding, unlike other comparable constructions. We achieve this high security and performance using a graph construction called a Dagwood Sandwich Graph (DSaG), built from a novel interleaving of depth-robust graphs and superconcentrators. PIEs' performance makes them appealing for DSNs, such as the proposed Filecoin system and Ethereum data sharding. Conversely, their near-optimality establishes concerning bounds on the practical financial and energy costs of DSNs allowing arbitrary data.
Ethan Cecchetti, Ben Fisch, Ian Miers, Ari Juels
CCS1
2018 Obladi: Oblivious Serializable Transactions in the Cloud
Natacha Crooks, Matthew Burke 0001, Ethan Cecchetti, Sitar Harel, Rachit Agarwal 0001, Lorenzo Alvisi
OSDI3
2017 Nonmalleable Information Flow Control
abstract
Noninterference is a popular semantic security condition because it offers strong end-to-end guarantees, it is inherently compositional, and it can be enforced using a simple security type system. Unfortunately, it is too restrictive for real systems. Mechanisms for downgrading information are needed to capture real-world security requirements, but downgrading eliminates the strong compositional security guarantees of noninterference.
Ethan Cecchetti, Andrew C. Myers, Owen Arden
CCS1
2017 Solidus: Confidential Distributed Ledger Transactions via PVORM
abstract
Blockchains and more general distributed ledgers are becoming increasingly popular as efficient, reliable, and persistent records of data and transactions. Unfortunately, they ensure reliability and correctness by making all data public, raising confidentiality concerns that eliminate many potential uses.
Ethan Cecchetti, Fan Zhang 0022, Yan Ji 0001, Ahmed E. Kosba, Ari Juels, Elaine Shi
CCS1
2016 Town Crier: An Authenticated Data Feed for Smart Contracts
abstract
Smart contracts are programs that execute autonomously on blockchains. Their key envisioned uses (e.g. financial instruments) require them to consume data from outside the blockchain (e.g. stock quotes). Trustworthy data feeds that support a broad range of data requests will thus be critical to smart contract ecosystems.
Fan Zhang 0022, Ethan Cecchetti, Kyle Croman, Ari Juels, Elaine Shi
CCS2