Source Code Diagnostic Tool Consolidating Multiple Scanners
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional source code diagnostic tools have limitations that hinder the production of error-free software, leading to vulnerabilities, and existing methods for reducing errors are often constrained by corporate policy, technical personnel availability, and budgetary factors.
Innovation Solution
The development of FLAw MEasure (FLAME), a tool that merges the outputs of multiple pre-existing static source code scanners to detect and organize security-related weaknesses, providing a cost-effective alternative to commercially available tools by executing and consolidating results from separate scanners into a single, easily interpretable document.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple separate source code scanning tools are used to detect vulnerabilities, then detection coverage is improved, but result organization and analysis become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate source code scanning tools into a unified system that executes all selected tools and automatically merges their results into a single organized output document. This resolving the contradiction by maintaining comprehensive detection coverage while eliminating the manual effort required to organize results from multiple separate tools.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides a universal platform that can execute multiple different scanning tools simultaneously and present their combined results through a single interface. This multi-functional approach allows users to benefit from various specialized tools while experiencing the simplicity of a unified system.
2Reliability
If commercial source code diagnostic tools are used, then detection capability is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the expensive commercial tool into multiple separate open-source scanning tools that can be individually selected and executed. By breaking down the functionality into discrete components, the system achieves comparable detection capability while eliminating the high cost of proprietary software licenses.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces expensive commercial tools with free, open-source alternatives that can be freely used and distributed. This substitution maintains essential detection capabilities while removing the cost barrier, making vulnerability scanning accessible to organizations with limited budgets.
3Reliability
If manual source code review is performed, then error reduction is improved, but time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automated preliminary scanning of source code using multiple specialized tools before manual review. This preliminary action identifies obvious vulnerabilities and patterns that would require significant manual effort to detect, thereby reducing the time and expertise required for subsequent manual analysis while maintaining high error reduction effectiveness.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented consolidation method is provided for identifying software vulnerability anomalies in a source code. This method includes providing a plurality of diagnostic tools; receiving the source code; selecting a subset plurality of tools; scanning the source code by the subset plurality for the anomalies to produce a diagnostic output; sorting the output by removing anomaly duplicates into a report; and saving the report into memory. Each tool among the plurality is able to detect the anomalies in software.