A technique for testing an electronic system (e.g., a computer system) involves intercepting an initial signal of the electronic system, modifying the initial signal with a distortion to form a distorted signal, and introducing the distorted signal into the electronic system in place of the initial signal. The technique further involves obtaining, from the electronic system, a result having one of (i) a first value indicating that the electronic system handled the distorted signal in a normal operating mode, and (ii) a second value indicating that the electronic system handled the distorted signal in an error handling mode which is different than the normal operating mode.