Augmented Vulnerability Triage for Resource-Efficient Security Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Software security testing is inefficient and resource-intensive due to the need for extensive manual context retrieval, repeated testing, and management of large data volumes, leading to wasted computing and human resources.
Innovation Solution
An orchestration system that utilizes orchestration and augmented vulnerability triage, processing contextual, computational, and experiential data to determine security issues and recommend actions, reducing false positives and enabling near-real-time confirmation and correction of vulnerabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual security testing processes are used with extensive context retrieval, then security analysis thoroughness is improved, but resource consumption (computing and human) increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an orchestration system as an intermediary between security analysts and vulnerability data. This system automatically retrieves and processes contextual information from multiple sources, correlates vulnerability data with code metadata, and presents analyzed results to analysts. This mediator handles the resource-intensive tasks of data collection, processing, and correlation, while analysts focus on high-level assessment and decision-making, thereby reducing overall resource consumption while maintaining analysis thoroughness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical processes (analysts manually retrieving and analyzing context) with automated computational systems. The orchestration system uses automated processes to fetch vulnerability information from databases, extract code metadata, correlate findings, and generate reports. This substitution of manual mechanical work with automated computational tasks significantly reduces human resource consumption and computing overhead while maintaining or improving analysis precision.
2Reliability
If repeated security testing is performed to ensure code security, then reliability is improved, but time consumption and productivity decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by performing automated vulnerability scanning and context retrieval before human analysts begin their work. The orchestration system proactively collects vulnerability information, extracts code metadata, and prepares correlation data in advance. This preliminary automated preparation reduces the time analysts need to spend on repeated testing and allows for more efficient security assurance through targeted re-testing only when necessary.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the orchestration system continuously monitors vulnerability data, code changes, and testing results. When code is modified or new vulnerabilities are discovered in the broader codebase, the system automatically updates relevant information and notifies analysts. This feedback loop enables selective re-testing rather than comprehensive repeated testing, maintaining security reliability while reducing overall time consumption.
3Quantity of substance
If large volumes of vulnerability data are managed manually, then data completeness is improved, but ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal orchestration system that performs multiple functions: retrieving vulnerability data from various sources, extracting code metadata, correlating findings, generating reports, and updating databases. This multi-functional system handles diverse data types and sources through a unified interface, making data management easier while maintaining completeness. Analysts interact with a single system that manages all aspects of vulnerability data rather than manually coordinating multiple separate processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The orchestration system provides self-service capabilities by automatically fetching vulnerability information from databases, extracting relevant code metadata, and correlating findings without human intervention. The system autonomously manages the complete data workflow from collection to analysis, reducing the operational burden on analysts while ensuring data completeness through systematic automated processes.
4Measurement precision
If extensive context retrieval is performed for each vulnerability, then false positive reduction is improved, but computing resources are wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential contextual information needed for accurate vulnerability assessment. The orchestration system identifies and retrieves specific code metadata (such as function signatures, data flow information, and control flow context) that is directly relevant to determining whether a vulnerability is genuine or a false positive. By extracting only necessary context rather than retrieving all available information, the system reduces computing resource waste while maintaining the ability to accurately distinguish true vulnerabilities from false positives.
Data Source
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AI summary
A device may receive contextual data, computational data, experiential data, and industry data associated with software code, and may receive detected vulnerabilities data identified by a scanning model based on the software code and software code metadata of the computational data. The device may process the contextual data, the computational data, and the experiential data, with a contextual identification model, to determine a set of rules and a set of actions, and may enrich, via an enrichment model, the industry data with the experiential data to generate enriched industry data. The device may process the software code metadata, the detected vulnerabilities data, and the enriched industry data, with a correlation model, to generate analysis data, and may process the analysis data and the set of rules, with a security model, to confirm security issues associated with the software code. The device may perform one of the set of actions based on the security issues.