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A method for detecting code security vulnerability based on variables tracking with validated-tree

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in China

Abstract

SQL injection poses a major threat to the application level security of the database and there is no systematic solution to these attacks. Different from traditional run time security strategies such as IDS and firewall, this paper focuses on the solution at the outset; it presents a method to find vulnerabilities by analyzing the source codes. The concept of validated tree is developed to track variables referenced by database operations in scripts. By checking whether these variables are influenced by outside inputs, the database operations are proved to be secure or not. This method has advantages of high accuracy and efficiency as well as low costs, and it is universal to any type of web application platforms. It is implemented by the software code vulnerabilities of SQL injection detector (CVSID). The validity and efficiency are demonstrated with an example.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Lab for Intelligent and Network Security, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Zhefei Zhang, Qinghua Zheng, Xiaohong Guan, Qing Wang & Tuo Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Zhefei Zhang, Qinghua Zheng, Xiaohong Guan, Qing Wang & Tuo Wang

  3. Center for Intelligent and Networked Systems, Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Xiaohong Guan

Authors
  1. Zhefei Zhang
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  2. Qinghua Zheng
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  3. Xiaohong Guan
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  4. Qing Wang
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  5. Tuo Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhefei Zhang.

Additional information

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Translated from Journal of Xi’an Jiaotong University, 2007, 41(4): 439–443 [译自: 西安交通大学学报]

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Zhang, Z., Zheng, Q., Guan, X. et al. A method for detecting code security vulnerability based on variables tracking with validated-tree. Front. Electr. Electron. Eng. Ch 3, 162–166 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11460-008-0047-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11460-008-0047-x

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