[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-84585-en":3,"doc-seo-84585-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},84585,8796095360427,"Lucas Martin","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d",8,"Research & Report","Towards Better Linux Kernel Fault Localization: Leveraging Contrastive Reasoning and Hierarchical Context Analysis","Debugging the Linux kernel is difficult because of its enormous codebase, complex architecture, and low-level implementation details, making effective fault localization essential for maintenance. Existing traditional and LLM-based fault localization methods do not fully fit kernel-specific constraints, where root causes require deep integration of crash and kernel semantics. CoHiKer is introduced as an LLM-based approach using contrastive reasoning over passing/failing mutated tests and hierarchical context analysis from crash reports down to methods to improve fine-grained localization.","Towards Better Linux Kernel Fault Localization: Leveraging Contrastive Reasoning and Hierarchical Context Analysis  \narXiv :2607 .00562v 1 [ cs . SE] 1 Jul 2026  \nHaichi Wang  \n[wanghaichi@tju.edu.cn](wanghaichi@tju.edu.cn)[ ](wanghaichi@tju.edu.cn)School of Computer Software, Tianjin University Tianjin, China  \nRuiguo Yu  \n[rgyu@tju.edu.cn](rgyu@tju.edu.cn)[ ](rgyu@tju.edu.cn)School of Computer Science and Technology, Information and Network Center, Tianjin University Tianjin, China  \nYesong Pang  \n[pangyesong_0503@tju.edu.cn](pangyesong_0503@tju.edu.cn)[ ](pangyesong_0503@tju.edu.cn)School of Computer Software, Tianjin University Tianjin, China  \nYingquan Zhao  \n[zhaoyingquan@tju.edu.cn](zhaoyingquan@tju.edu.cn)[ ](zhaoyingquan@tju.edu.cn)School of Cybersecurity, Tianjin University Tianjin, China  \nJunjie Chen∗ [junjiechen@tju.edu.cn](junjiechen@tju.edu.cn)[ ](junjiechen@tju.edu.cn)School of Computer Software, Tianjin University Tianjin, China  \nJiajun Jiang  \n[jiangjiajun@tju.edu.cn](jiangjiajun@tju.edu.cn)[ ](jiangjiajun@tju.edu.cn)School of Computer Software, Tianjin University Tianjin, China  \nZan Wang  \n[wangzan@tju.edu.cn](wangzan@tju.edu.cn)[ ](wangzan@tju.edu.cn)School of Computer Software, School of Artificial Intelligence, Tianjin University Tianjin, China  \nAbstract  \nDebugging the Linux kernel remains a formidable challenge due to its vast codebase, complex architecture, and low-level programming intricacies. Effective fault localization (FL) is thus essential for efficient kernel debugging and maintenance. While existing FL techniques (both traditional and LLM-based) have shown promise in general-purpose software, they are ill-suited for the kernel context. In particular, recent LLM-based techniques often treat bug reports and source code as plain text, lacking deep integration of kernel-specific knowledge, which limits their ability to identify root causes and achieve fine-grained localization.  \nWe present CoHiKer, a novel LLM-based FL technique tailored to the Linux kernel. CoHiKer introduces two key innovations: (1) contrastive reasoning, which identifies root causes by analyzing the behavioral divergence between carefully mutated passing and failing test cases, and (2) hierarchical context analysis, which systematically narrows the localization scope from files to methods by integrating crash reports, syscall semantics, inter-file dependencies, and kernel-specific features. Unlike prior techniques that rely on static understanding and full-code input, CoHiKer decomposes the localization task and enables structured LLM prompting to reason semantically over meaningful contexts.  \nWe evaluate CoHiKer on an extended Linux kernel bug dataset against five state-of-the-art baselines. CoHiKer consistently outperforms all competitors, improving Top-1 localization accuracy by up to 26.07% at the file level and 56.85% at the method level over state-of-the-art LLM-based baselines, while achieving up to  \n∗Junjie Chen is the corresponding author.  \nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4 .0 International License. ICSE ’26, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  \n© 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s) .  \nACM ISBN 979-8-4007-2025-3/2026/04  \n[https://doi.org/10.1145/3744916.3787792](https://doi.org/10.1145/3744916.3787792)  \n8.84 × and 28.9 × reductions in token consumption, respectively. Furthermore, CoHiKer demonstrates strong generalizability on thenon-kernel dataset, with comparable gains (15.5% and 5.3% in Top-1 at file and method levels) . These results demonstrate the promise of CoHiKer as a practical and accurate solution for kernel FL.  \nCCS Concepts  \n• Software and its engineering → Software testing and debugging.  \nKeywords  \nFault Localization, Linux Kernel, Large Language Model  \nACM Reference Format:  \nHaichi Wang, Ruiguo Yu, Yesong Pang, Yingquan Zhao, Junjie Chen, Jiajun Jiang, and Zan Wang. 2026. Towards Better Linux Kernel Fault Localization: Leveraging Contrastive Reasoning and Hierarchica","cbCaidMuzKDtLGi8","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidMuzKDtLGi8","pdf",905785,1,13,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Motivation and challenges in kernel fault localization\n## Related directions and fault localization categories","[{\"question\":\"What problem does CoHiKer address in Linux kernel debugging?\",\"answer\":\"CoHiKer targets fault localization for Linux kernel bugs, where identifying root causes and achieving fine-grained localization is harder than in general software due to symptom–cause gaps and kernel-specific information loss.\"},{\"question\":\"How does CoHiKer use contrastive reasoning?\",\"answer\":\"CoHiKer identifies root causes by analyzing behavioral divergence between carefully mutated passing and failing test cases, using that contrast to guide localization.\"},{\"question\":\"How does hierarchical context analysis narrow the search scope?\",\"answer\":\"CoHiKer progressively reduces localization scope from files to methods by integrating crash reports, syscall semantics, inter-file dependencies, and kernel-specific features into structured LLM prompting.\"}]",1784196935,33,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"towards-better-linux-kernel-fault-localization-leveraging-contrastive-reasoning-and-hierarchical-context-analysis","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/towards-better-linux-kernel-fault-localization-leveraging-contrastive-reasoning-and-hierarchical-context-analysis/84585/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What problem does CoHiKer address in Linux kernel debugging?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"CoHiKer targets fault localization for Linux kernel bugs, where identifying root causes and achieving fine-grained localization is harder than in general software due to symptom–cause gaps and kernel-specific information loss.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"How does CoHiKer use contrastive reasoning?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"CoHiKer identifies root causes by analyzing behavioral divergence between carefully mutated passing and failing test cases, using that contrast to guide localization.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"How does hierarchical context analysis narrow the search scope?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"CoHiKer progressively reduces localization scope from files to methods by integrating crash reports, syscall semantics, inter-file dependencies, and kernel-specific features into structured LLM 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