🍦 About Me

I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in the School of Cyber Science and Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), as a member of the SECURITY PRIDE Research Group (Security, Privacy, and Dependability in Emerging Software Systems), under the supervision of Prof. Haoyu Wang. Previously, I received my B.Eng. degree at Northeastern University (NEU) in June 2023.

My research interests include, but are not limited to, the security of large language model (LLM) applications. Specifically, my work focuses on LLM app stores, model deployment, and the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

If you would like to reach me, please email xinyihou AT hust DOT edu DOT cn.

🌷 News

• 🔝 Excited to announce the 1st International Workshop on LLM App Store Analysis（LLMapp）, co-located with FSE 2025! Join us in Trondheim, Norway.
• 🔝 Excited to announce the 1st International Workshop on Large Language Model Supply Chain Analysis (LLMSC 2025), co-located with ISSTA 2025! Join us in Trondheim, Norway.
• [31 Mar 2025] Our paper titled “GPT Store Mining and Analysis” was accepted by Internetware 2025!
• [25 Mar 2025] Our paper titled “LLM App Squatting and Cloning” was accepted by FSE 2025, Industry Track!
• [11 Mar 2025] Our paper titled “On the (In)Security of LLM App Stores” was accepted by S&P 2025!
• [21 Nov 2024] Two papers on LLM Apps and Supply Chain were accepted by TOSEM 2030 SE Roadmap!
• [15-17 Nov 2024] We won the third prize in the Software Research Prototype System Competition of ChinaSoft 2024.
• [8-9 Nov 2024] I attended the AI+ Development Digital Summit in Shenzhen, China.
• [27 Aug 2024] Our paper titled “Large Language Models for Software Engineering: A Systematic Literature Review” was accepted by TOSEM!
• [1-3 Dec 2023] I attended the CCF ChinaSoft 2023 Conference in Shanghai, China.
• [20-22 Oct 2023] I attended the CCF Advanced Disciplines Lectures (ADL), Session 144, on the topic of Code Generation Based on large language models in Beijing, China.
• [28 Jun 2023] I received my B.Eng. degree at Northeastern University.
• [28 Sep 2022] I have become a member of the SECURITY PRIDE Research Group.

📜 Publications

(* Equal Contribution)

Preprint

• Unveiling the Landscape of LLM Deployment in the Wild: An Empirical Study PDF
  Xinyi Hou*, Jiahao Han*, Yanjie Zhao, Haoyu Wang
• Model Context Protocol (MCP): Landscape, Security Threats, and Future Research Directions PDF
  Xinyi Hou, Yanjie Zhao, Shenao Wang, Haoyu Wang

Peer-Reviewed

• Large Language Models for Software Engineering: A Systematic Literature Review PDF DOI Repo
  Xinyi Hou*, Yanjie Zhao*, Yue Liu, Zhou Yang, Kailong Wang, Li Li, Xiapu Luo, David Lo, John Grundy, Haoyu Wang
  [TOSEM] ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology
• On the (In)Security of LLM App Stores PDF DOI
  Xinyi Hou*, Yanjie Zhao*, Haoyu Wang
  [S&P’25] The 46th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy
• LLM App Squatting and Cloning PDF
  Yinglin Xie*, Xinyi Hou*, Yanjie Zhao, Kai Chen, Haoyu Wang
  [FSE’25] The ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering, Industry Track
• GPT Store Mining and Analysis PDF
  Dongxun Su*, Yanjie Zhao*, Xinyi Hou, Shenao Wang, Haoyu Wang
  [Internetware’25] The 16th International Conference on Internetware
• Voices from the Frontier: A Comprehensive Analysis of the OpenAI Developer Forum PDF
  Xinyi Hou*, Yanjie Zhao*, Haoyu Wang
  [Internetware’25] The 16th International Conference on Internetware
• The Next Frontier of LLM Applications: Open Ecosystems and Hardware Synergy PDF
  Xinyi Hou*, Yanjie Zhao*, Haoyu Wang
  [FSEws2025] The Future Software Engineering Workshop, co-located with FSE 2025
• Towards Reliable Vector Database Management Systems: A Software Testing Roadmap for 2030 PDF
  Shenao Wang*, Yanjie Zhao*, Yinglin Xie, Zhao Liu, Xinyi Hou, Quanchen Zou, Haoyu Wang
  [FSEws2025] The Future Software Engineering Workshop, co-located with FSE 2025
• LLM App Store Analysis: A Vision and Roadmap PDF DOI
  Yanjie Zhao, Xinyi Hou, Shenao Wang, Haoyu Wang
  [TOSEM] ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology
• Large Language Model Supply Chain: A Research Agenda PDF DOI
  Shenao Wang, Yanjie Zhao, Xinyi Hou, Haoyu Wang
  [TOSEM] ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology
• Bridging Design and Development with Automated Declarative UI Code Generation PDF DOI
  Ting Zhou*, Yanjie Zhao*, Xinyi Hou, Xiaoyu Sun, Kai Chen, Haoyu Wang
  [FSE’25] The ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering
• ClauseBench: Enhancing Software License Analysis with Clause-Level Benchmarking PDF DOI Repo
  Qiang Ke*, Xinyi Hou*, Yanjie Zhao, Haoyu Wang
  [ICSE’25] The 47th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering, Industry Challenge Track
• Models Are Codes: Towards Measuring Malicious Code Poisoning Attacks on Pre-trained Model Hubs PDF DOI Repo
  Jian Zhao*, Shenao Wang*, Yanjie Zhao, Xinyi Hou, Kailong Wang, Peiming Gao, Yuanchao Zhang, Chen Wei, Haoyu Wang
  [ASE’24] The 39th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering, Industry Showcase
• GPTZoo: A Large-scale Dataset of GPTs for the Research Community PDF DOI Repo
  Xinyi Hou, Yanjie Zhao, Shenao Wang, Haoyu Wang
  [ASE’24] The 39th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering, NIER Track
• ChatGPT Chats Decoded: Uncovering Prompt Patterns for Superior Solutions in Software Development Lifecycle PDF DOI
  Liangxuan Wu, Yanjie Zhao, Xinyi Hou, Tianming Liu, Haoyu Wang
  [MSR’24] The 21st IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mining Software Repositories

📚 Education

• 2019.09 - 2023.06, B.Eng., Northeastern University, Shenyang, China.
• 2023.09 till now, Ph.D., Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

💼 Services

• Journal Reviewer
  ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM), Automated Software Engineering (ASE), Empirical Software Engineering (EMSE)
• PC Member
  LLMapp 2025 (co-located with FSE 2025)
• Sub-Reviewer
  ISSTA’24, FSE’25, IMC’24/25, IWQoS’25, APSEC’24
• Publicity & Web Chair
  LLMapp 2025 (co-located with FSE 2025), LLMSC 2025 (co-located with ISSTA 2025)

🏆 Honors and Awards

• 2023 - Outstanding Graduates of Liaoning Province
• 2023 - Distinguished Undergraduate Thesis of NEU
• 2022 - China National Scholarship
• 2022 - First Class Annual Outstanding Student
• 2020 - Inspur Scholarship
• 2020 - First Class Annual Outstanding Student