Azul has introduced an replace to its Vulnerability Detection resolution that guarantees to cut back false positives in Java vulnerability detection by as much as 99% by solely flagging vulnerabilities in code paths which are truly used.
In response to Azul, typical scanners scan JAR recordsdata for elements by identify, fairly than what the JVM truly masses.
Erik Costlow, senior director of product administration at Azul, defined due to the way in which Java purposes work, every element incorporates many lessons, and regardless that a element could also be within the Frequent Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database, an utility won’t be loading the a part of the element that’s susceptible.
“Log4j, for instance, has over 10,000 lessons, and there’s solely like 5 – 6 of them which are truly susceptible. So, what we discover is that many individuals use the susceptible issues, however they use it in a protected manner,” he mentioned.
As one other instance, CVE-2024-1597 describes a vital (9.8 out of 10 rating) vulnerability in pgjdbc, which is a PostgreSQL JDBC driver. The vulnerability permits SQL injection if PreferQueryMode=SIMPLE is used. Nevertheless, the entry within the CVE database says “Be aware this isn’t the default. Within the default mode there isn’t a vulnerability.”
A developer may be utilizing this element and until they exit of their manner and use PreferQueryMode=SIMPLE, they’re protected, Costlow defined.
“What occurs is many individuals take a look at this rating, they usually say it’s a ten out of 10, drop the whole lot, dedicate my engineers to cope with this safety vulnerability,” mentioned Costlow. “However the reality is, the vast majority of them are utilizing it within the default mode, during which case there’s no vulnerability. So, if I’ve taken my individuals off all of the essential work that they’re doing, and I’ve mentioned, ‘go repair this vulnerability, patch it proper now’ as a result of it’s a vital 10 out of 10, I’ve simply wasted an enormous period of time.”
In response to Costlow, one of these situation the place a developer can be utilizing a vulnerability element, however not truly activating the a part of it that’s susceptible is pretty widespread.
The most recent replace to Azul Vulnerability Detection makes use of a curated data base that maps CVEs to lessons which are used at runtime. The corporate constructed this by wanting on the CVE database and asking how most of the elements truly associated to Java. Subsequent, it went via these elements and discovered what components of them are problematic and why.
This curated database allows Azul to flag if one of many susceptible lessons within the CVE database is definitely being utilized by the elements in a Java utility, or if the appliance is utilizing different lessons of a susceptible element that aren’t thought of to be susceptible items.
“What Azul does with vulnerability detection that’s completely different from most of the different scanners is we regularly watch that utility to say, ‘did you truly use the factor?’ It’s one factor to have the susceptible element. Individuals have susceptible elements. There are various issues that pose a threat to you, however the query is, do you truly use it in a manner that poses a threat to you? What we discovered, is that fairly typically that reply isn’t any,” Costlow mentioned.
