VLDB 2026 Research / reviewers in the wild / expert
Jiansen Song
dblp:337/1067
· DBLP profile ↗
10ranked-venue papers
3as first author
10since 2021 · last 2026
0009-0003-0401-2033ORCID · corroborated
Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several
Software engineering, systems software and programming languages · 6 · 1 first-author · 6 since 2021Databases, data management, data science and information retrieval · 3 · 2 first-author · 3 since 2021Artificial intelligence and machine learning · 1 · 1 since 2021Graphics, computer vision, multimedia, augmented reality and games · 1 · 1 since 2021
| Year | Publication | Venue | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | PAGPL: Privacy-Aware Graph Prompt Learning Scheme via Adaptive Perturbation-Estimated Topology RecoveryabstractGraph prompt learning (GPL) serves as a crucial framework for mitigating the knowledge transfer by reconciling the substantial mismatch between pre-training models and downstream tasks. However, prevalent GPL paradigm fail to accommodate graph data affected by privacy-induced noise. Specifically, 1) GPL typically relies on the stability of original graph structures for the design of effective prompt templates; 2) the construction of prompts lacks explicit guidance to suppress noise introduced by privacy perturbations; 3) prompt optimization on single disturbed graphs can easily lead to overfitting to noise patterns. To address these issues, we propose a novel privacy-aware graph prompt learning (PAGPL) scheme, which alleviates spurious clues caused by privacy noise injection. Initially, an adaptive structure-wise Bayesian estimation is applied to reconstruct the privacy-perturbed graphs. Subsequently, to suppress the impact of residual perturbation, a noise-resilient prompt generation is employed to filter unreliable structural and signals. Ultimately, we incorporate a multi-view-based progressive privacy consistency to promote the robustness of prompts against the semantic misalignment while improving the task-specific consistency. The experimental results reveal that our scheme outperforms state-of-the-art (SOTA) GPL approaches with a 10%–60% improvement in accuracy under various real-world privacy-perturbed scenarios. Ju Jia, Jiansen Song, Jingxuan Yu, Jiabao Guo, Xiaoshuang Jia, Di Wu 0050, Yali Yuan, Guang Cheng 0001 |
AAAI | 2 |
| 2025 | Simple Testing Can Expose Most Critical Transaction Bugs: Understanding and Detecting Write-Specific Serializability Violations in Database SystemsabstractDatabase Management Systems (DBMSs) utilize transactions to guarantee data consistency and integrity. Incorrect implementations of transaction processing mechanisms can introduce critical transaction bugs, which can lead to incorrect database states after the involved transactions complete. However, we lack an effective test oracle to determine whether a DBMS produces a correct database state for a given concurrent transaction schedule. In this paper, we propose a general property for concurrent transaction schedules, write-specific serializability , in which a schedule of concurrent transactions should produce the same database state as a corresponding serial schedule of the same transactions. Through our empirical study on 35 critical transaction bugs collected from six widely-used DBMSs, we find that write-specific serializability can be an effective test oracle to expose critical transaction bugs in DBMSs. We further develop a simple and general transaction testing approach, WriteCheck, to automatically detect write-specific serializability violations by identifying inconsistencies in the final database states produced by the original transaction schedule and its corresponding serial schedule. We evaluate WriteCheck on the latest versions of six production-grade DBMSs, and have found 22 write-specific serializability violations, 11 of which have been confirmed as new critical transaction bugs. Ziyu Cui, Wensheng Dou, Yu Gao 0002, Rui Yang 0039, Yingying Zheng, Jiansen Song, Jun Wei 0001 |
Proc. VLDB Endow. | 6 |
| 2025 | Detecting Schema-Related Logic Bugs in Relational DBMSs via Equivalent Database ConstructionabstractRelational Database Management Systems (DBMSs) provide flexible DDL (Data Definition Language) statements that enable the creation, modification, and deletion of database schemas. In addition to database schemas, relational DBMSs typically manage various schema-related information internally, e.g., schema changes, tablespace allocation, and block-level data layout. However, incorrect implementations related to schema-related information maintenance and utilization can introduce schema-related logic bugs. These bugs can cause DQL (Data Query Language) statements to return incorrect query results and DML (Data Manipulation Language) statements to create incorrect database states. Existing approaches mainly focus on detecting logic bugs in DQL statements, but are ineffective in detecting schema-related logic bugs. In this paper, we propose a novel and general testing approach, DDLCheck, to effectively detect schema-related logic bugs in relational DBMSs. We first generate a complex DDL sequence seq gen that consists of various types of DDL statements, and then synthesize a rather simple DDL sequence seq syn , which utilizes CREATE statements to create the same database schema as seq gen . Executing the same SQL statements on the two databases created by seq gen and Seq syn should yield the same execution results. Any discrepancy between their execution results indicates a schema-related logic bug. To improve the testing efficiency of DDLCheck, we further design a DDL-sequence-oriented testing optimization strategy, which can help DDLCheck explore diverse schema-related information and detect schema-related logic bugs quickly. We implement and evaluate DDLCheck on six widely-used relational DBMSs. We have detected 34 bugs in these DBMSs, of which 29 bugs have been confirmed as previously unknown bugs and 9 bugs have been fixed. Jiansen Song, Wensheng Dou, Yingying Zheng, Yu Gao 0002, Ziyu Cui, Wei Wang 0049, Jun Wei 0001 |
Proc. VLDB Endow. | 1 |
| 2024 | Understanding Transaction Bugs in Database SystemsabstractTransactions are used to guarantee data consistency and integrity in Database Management Systems (DBMSs), and have become an indispensable component in DBMSs. However, faulty designs and implementations of DBMSs' transaction processing mechanisms can introduce transaction bugs, and lead to severe consequences, e.g., incorrect database states and DBMS crashes. An in-depth understanding of real-world transaction bugs can significantly promote effective techniques in combating transaction bugs in DBMSs. Ziyu Cui, Wensheng Dou, Yu Gao 0002, Dong Wang 0048, Jiansen Song, Yingying Zheng, Tao Wang 0030, Rui Yang 0039, Jun Wei 0001, Tao Huang 0001 |
ICSE | 5 |
| 2024 | Differential Optimization Testing of Gremlin-Based Graph Database SystemsabstractGraph database systems (GDBs) allow efficiently creating, modifying, and retrieving graph data in a graph database. To accelerate graph queries, GDBs usually adopt various and complex optimization strategies. However, incorrect optimizations in GDBs can introduce optimization bugs, which cause a graph query to compute an incorrect query result, e.g., omitting a vertex in a graph database. In this paper, we propose Differential Optimization Testing (DOT), an effective and automated approach to detect optimization bugs in GDBs that adopt Gremlin as their query language. The main idea of DOT is that, given a Gremlin query$Q$, we execute it on the target GDB with two different optimization configurations and then verify whether they can compute the same query results for query$Q$. Any inconsistency between their query results indicates an optimization bug in the target GDB. To improve the efficiency of differential testing in DOT, we further propose an optimization-guided approach, aiming to explore more optimization strategies and more graph database features. We evaluate DOT on six popular and widely-used GDBs, i.e., Neo4j, OrientDB, JanusGraph, HugeGraph, TinkerGraph, and ArcadeDB. In total, we have found 28 unique optimization bugs, 16 of which have been confirmed as previously-unknown bugs. Yingying Zheng, Wensheng Dou, Ziyu Cui, Jiansen Song, Ziyue Cheng, Wei Wang 0049, Jun Wei 0001, Hua Zhong 0001, Tao Huang 0001 |
ICST | 5 |
| 2024 | Testing Gremlin-Based Graph Database Systems via Query DisassemblingabstractGraph Database Systems (GDBs) support efficiently storing and retrieving graph data, and have become a critical component in many important applications. Many widely-used GDBs utilize the Gremlin query language to create, modify, and retrieve data in graph databases, in which developers can assemble a sequence of Gremlin APIs to perform a complex query. However, incorrect implementations and optimizations of GDBs can introduce logic bugs, which can cause Gremlin queries to return incorrect query results, e.g., omitting vertices in a graph database. In this paper, we propose Query Di sassembling (QuDi), an effective testing technique to automatically detect logic bugs in Gremlin-based GDBs. Given a Gremlin query Q, QuDi disassembles Q into a sequence of atomic graph traversals TList, which shares the equivalent execution semantics with Q. If the execution results of Q and TList are different, a logic bug is revealed in the target GDB. We evaluate QuDi on six popular GDBs, and have found 25 logic bugs in these GDBs, 10 of which have been confirmed as previously-unknown bugs by GDB developers. Yingying Zheng, Wensheng Dou, Ziyu Cui, Yu Gao 0002, Jiansen Song, Wei Wang 0049, Jun Wei 0001, Hua Zhong 0007, Tao Huang 0001 |
ISSTA | 6 |
| 2024 | Detecting Metadata-Related Logic Bugs in Database Systems via Raw Database ConstructionabstractDatabase Management Systems (DBMSs) are widely used to efficiently store and retrieve data. DBMSs usually support various metadata, e.g., integrity constraints for ensuring data integrity and indexes for locating data. DBMSs can further utilize these metadata to optimize query evaluation. However, incorrect metadata-related optimizations can introduce metadata-related logic bugs, which can cause a DBMS to return an incorrect query result for a given query. In this paper, we propose a general and effective testing approach, Raw database construction (Radar), to detect metadata-related logic bugs in DBMSs. Given a database db containing some metadata, Radar first constructs a raw database rawDb , which wipes out the metadata in db and contains the same data as db. Since db and rawDb have the same data, they should return the same query result for a given query. Any inconsistency in their returned query results indicates a metadata-related logic bug. To effectively detect metadata-related logic bugs, we further propose a metadata-oriented testing optimization strategy to focus on testing previously unseen metadata, thus detecting more metadata-related logic bugs quickly. We implement and evaluate Radar on five widely-used DBMSs, and have detected 42 bugs, of which 38 have been confirmed as new bugs and 16 have been fixed by DBMS developers. Jiansen Song, Wensheng Dou, Yu Gao 0002, Ziyu Cui, Yingying Zheng, Dong Wang 0048, Wei Wang 0049, Jun Wei 0001, Tao Huang 0001 |
Proc. VLDB Endow. | 1 |
| 2023 | Detecting Isolation Bugs via Transaction Oracle ConstructionabstractTransactions are used to maintain the data integrity of databases, and have become an indispensable feature in modern Database Management Systems (DBMSs). Despite extensive efforts in testing DBMSs and verifying transaction processing mechanisms, isolation bugs still exist in widely-used DBMSs when these DBMSs violate their claimed transaction isolation levels. Isolation bugs can cause severe consequences, e.g., incorrect query results and database states. In this paper, we propose a novel transaction testing approach, Transaction oracle construction (Troc), to automatically detect isolation bugs in DBMSs. The core idea of Troc is to decouple a transaction into independent statements, and execute them on their own database views, which are constructed under the guidance of the claimed transaction isolation level. Any divergence between the actual transaction execution and the independent statement execution indicates an isolation bug. We implement and evaluate Troc on three widely-used DBMSs, i.e., MySQL, MariaDB, and TiDB. We have detected 5 previously-unknown isolation bugs in the latest versions of these DBMSs. Wensheng Dou, Ziyu Cui, Qianwang Dai, Jiansen Song, Dong Wang 0048, Yu Gao 0002, Wei Wang 0049, Jun Wei 0001, Hanmo Wang, Hua Zhong 0001, Tao Huang 0001 |
ICSE | 4 |
| 2023 | Testing Database Systems via Differential Query ExecutionabstractDatabase Management Systems (DBMSs) provide efficient data retrieval and manipulation for many applications through Structured Query Language (SQL). Incorrect implementations of DBMSs can result in logic bugs, which cause SELECT queries to fetch incorrect results, or UPDATE and DELETE queries to generate incorrect database states. Existing approaches mainly focus on detecting logic bugs in SELECT queries. However, logic bugs in UPDATE and DELETE queries have not been tackled. In this paper, we propose a novel and general approach, which we have termed Differential Query Execution (DQE), to detect logic bugs in SELECT, UPDATE and DELETE queries of DBMSs. The core idea of DQE is that different SQL queries with the same predicate usually access the same rows in a database. For example, a row updated by an UPDATE query with a predicate φ should also be fetched by a SELECT query with the same predicate φ, If not, a logic bug is revealed in the target DBMS. To evaluate the effectiveness and generality of DQE, we apply DQE on five production-level DBMSs, i.e., MySQL, MariaDB, TiDB, CockroachDB and SQLite. In total, we have detected 50 unique bugs in these DBMSs, 41 of which have been confirmed, and 11 have been fixed. We expect that the simplicity and generality of DQE can greatly improve the reliability of DBMSs. Jiansen Song, Wensheng Dou, Ziyu Cui, Qianwang Dai, Wei Wang 0049, Jun Wei 0001, Hua Zhong 0001, Tao Huang 0001 |
ICSE | 1 |
| 2022 | Differentially Testing Database Transactions for Fun and ProfitabstractDatabase Management Systems (DBMSs) utilize transactions to ensure the consistency and integrity of data. Incorrect transaction implementations in DBMSs can lead to severe consequences, e.g., incorrect database states and query results. Therefore, it is critical to ensure the reliability of transaction implementations. Ziyu Cui, Wensheng Dou, Qianwang Dai, Jiansen Song, Wei Wang 0049, Jun Wei 0001, Dan Ye 0004 |
ASE | 4 |