LLM-Driven Kernel Evolution: Automating Driver Updates in Linux

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2511.18924v1
• Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2025 09:31:52 GMT
• Title: LLM-Driven Kernel Evolution: Automating Driver Updates in Linux
• Abstract summary: Linux kernel evolution breaks drivers through API/ABI changes, semantic shifts, and security-hardening updates.<n>We introduce DRIVEBENCH, an executable corpus of kernel$rightarrow$driver co-evolution cases, and AUTODRIVER, a closed-loop, LLM-driven system for automating driver maintenance.
• Score: 19.111608041629008
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Linux kernel evolution breaks drivers through API/ABI changes, semantic shifts, and security-hardening updates. We introduce DRIVEBENCH, an executable corpus of kernel$\rightarrow$driver co-evolution cases, and AUTODRIVER, a closed-loop, LLM-driven system for automating driver maintenance. The system integrates prompt engineering, multi-agent collaboration, static analysis, and iterative validation to ensure that generated patches are not only syntactically correct but also functionally and semantically consistent with kernel conventions. The corpus spans v5.10-v6.10 with 235 validated cases drawn from 612 candidates. In evaluation across 55 cases, AUTODRIVER achieves 56.4% compilation success; QEMU-based boot verification indicates that compiled patches preserve driver initialization in most instances. By releasing DRIVEBENCH and tooling, we enable reproducible research and a practical route to continuous, safe co-evolution of drivers with the Linux kernel.

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