Mathias Payer

Mathias Payer is an Associate Professor at EPFL's School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC), leading the HexHive Laboratory. His work focuses on software security, particularly addressing memory corruption and type violations through binary analysis and compiler-based techniques. He contributes to research in secure system design, fault isolation, and fuzzing methodologies.

• Current PhD students: Di Bartolomeo Luca, Feng Zhiyao, Hofhammer Florian, Lyu Tao, Mao Philipp Yuxiang, Zhang Chibin, Zheng Han
• Past EPFL PhD students: Badoux Nicolas Daniel, Bhattacharyya Atri, Hazimeh Ahmad

His research explores software security in areas like:

• Protecting applications from vulnerabilities
• Binary exploitation and mitigation
• Compiler-driven security hardening
• Strong sanitization and privilege separation
• Memory corruption detection

The HexHive group develops tools and frameworks for:

• Automated fuzz driver generation
• Gradual compartmentalization
• State inference for feedback optimization
• Secure cell architectures

Recent publications highlight advancements in:

• Fuzzing hybrid approaches (e.g., DUMPLING, MendelFuzz)
• Memory safety validation (QMSan, Pacmem)
• Compiler-assisted defenses (Gradient, Type++)