Static Code Analysis for Web App Authorization Anomalies
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gaps in access control policy enforcement in software systems lead to privilege escalation, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive resources and operations, due to missing or inconsistent authorization checks in web applications.
Innovation Solution
The approach involves using static code analysis to identify and detect missing or inconsistent authorization checks in web applications by comparing specifications of methods with and without authorization checks, providing remediation information to correct these issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual security testing is performed to identify authorization vulnerabilities, then security accuracy is improved, but testing time and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual security testing (mechanical human analysis) with automated static code analysis tools that use pattern recognition and machine learning algorithms to detect authorization vulnerabilities, thereby maintaining high security accuracy while dramatically reducing testing time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary automated analysis system that acts as a bridge between the codebase and security assessment, using intermediate representations and abstraction layers to efficiently analyze authorization patterns without requiring direct manual inspection of each code element
2Reliability
If comprehensive static code analysis is performed to detect all authorization issues, then security coverage is improved, but false positive rate increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by establishing a baseline of legitimate authorization patterns through training on known secure code, enabling the system to distinguish between actual vulnerabilities and benign code structures, thereby reducing false positives while maintaining comprehensive coverage
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts analysis parameters and thresholds based on code context, project characteristics, and risk profiles, allowing the system to optimize the balance between detection sensitivity and false positive rate for different codebases and vulnerability types
3Measurement precision
If detailed specifications are generated for all methods to compare authorization checks, then detection accuracy is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the codebase into functional units and generates specifications only for methods that are likely to contain authorization vulnerabilities based on static analysis heuristics and call graph analysis, reducing processing complexity while maintaining detection accuracy for critical areas
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different levels of specification detail to different methods based on their security criticality, generating comprehensive specifications only for high-risk methods while using lighter analysis for low-risk code, thereby optimizing the balance between detection accuracy and processing complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Example embodiments disclosed herein relate to determining an anomaly of a missing authorization or inconsistent authorization in web application code. The web application code is analyzed to identify methods that have authorization checks associated and labeling the identified methods as related to authorization checks. Unidentified methods are associated as non-authorization check methods. The methods are compared to determine the anomaly.