[Paper] TENSURE: Fuzzing Sparse Tensor Compilers (Registered Report)

Source: arXiv - 2603.18372v1

Overview

Sparse Tensor Compilers (STCs) have emerged as critical infrastructure for optimizing high-dimensional data analytics and machine learning workloads. The STCs must synthesize complex, irregular control flow for various compressed storage formats directly from high-level declarative specifications, thereby making them highly susceptible to subtle correctness defects. Existing testing frameworks, which rely on mutating computation graphs restricted to a standard vocabulary of operators, fail to exercise the arbitrary loop synthesis capabilities of these compilers. Furthermore, generic grammar-based fuzzers struggle to generate valid inputs due to the strict rules governing how indices are reused across multiple tensors. In this paper, we present TENSURE, the first extensible black-box fuzzing framework specifically designed for the testing of STCs. TENSURE leverages Einstein Summation (Einsum) notation as a general input abstraction, enabling the generation of complex, unconventional tensor contractions that expose corner cases in the code-generation phases of STCs. We propose a novel constraint-based generation algorithm that guarantees 100% semantic validity of synthesized kernels, significantly outperforming the ~3.3% validity rate of baseline grammar fuzzers. To enable metamorphic testing without a trusted reference, we introduce a set of semantic-preserving mutation operators that exploit algebraic commutativity and heterogeneity in storage formats. Our evaluation on two state-of-the-art systems, TACO and Finch, reveals widespread fragility, particularly in TACO, where TENSURE exposed crashes or silent miscompilations in a majority of generated test cases. These findings underscore the critical need for specialized testing tools in the sparse compilation ecosystem.

Key Contributions

This paper presents research in the following areas:

• cs.PL
• cs.SE

Methodology

Please refer to the full paper for detailed methodology.

Practical Implications

This research contributes to the advancement of cs.PL.

Authors

• Kabilan Mahathevan
• Yining Zhang
• Muhammad Ali Gulzar
• Kirshanthan Sundararajah

Paper Information

• arXiv ID: 2603.18372v1
• Categories: cs.PL, cs.SE
• Published: March 19, 2026
• PDF: Download PDF