I’m working on a computer science project and need an explanation to help me study.
In this assignment you will conduct a dependency check, which is a type of static testing that detects vulnerabilities associated with library dependencies needed for the application. Static testing allows you to identify vulnerabilities in the code without actually executing the code. In this assignment, you will do the following:
- Identify software security vulnerabilities by running code through a static tester.
- Identify potential mitigation techniques that have been used to mitigate against vulnerabilities associated with known exploits.
Scenario
You are a senior software developer within a team of software developers that are responsible for a large web application that uses the Spring framework.
The software development team has addressed the vulnerabilities in the code base from your manual code review and plans to mitigate against the vulnerabilities. In addition to making these changes, they are now supporting a new functionality that requires the addition of a new library. As a best practice for ensuring secure code, it is essential to check the refactored code base as well as the additional library through a dependency check.
Fortunately, just as your compiler, interpreter, and integrated development environment help with syntax checking your code, there are tools to help with dependency checks. You will integrate a dependency check tool into your vulnerability assessment workflow.
Prompt
To begin, open the code base in Eclipse. Refer to the Uploading Files to Eclipse Desktop Version Tutorial for testing the code base in Eclipse. Then integrate the Maven Dependency Check plug-in for the code base.
Please note: Integrating the Static Testing Tool was a non graded task that you should have completed in the previous module, so you may have already completed these steps.
Follow the instructions in the Integrating the Maven Dependency Check Plug-in Tutorial to learn how to integrate and run the dependency check plug-in into Maven for conducting static testing. Use the instructions in the tutorial to identify the software security vulnerabilities. Specifically, address the following in a Static Testing Summary:
- Run the dependency check on the code base. Include a screenshot of the HTML report in your Static Testing Summary. Be sure the screenshot includes the scan information at the top of the dependency check report.
- In addition to showing that the dependency check ran effectively, document the results from the dependency check. Be sure to identify the codes and descriptions of the dependencies found by including these details for each dependency in your Static Testing Summary.
- Interpret the results to identify widely accepted solutions for addressing dependencies in the code base. Summarize your findings in your Static Testing Summary. You can refer to industry standard guidelines such as the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) and the National Vulnerability Database (NVD). Consider why false positives should be filtered from the dependency check tool and discuss in your Static Testing Summary.
To learn about the dependencies and interpret the results from the report, click on each dependency listed as shown below:
Information regarding the dependency description, its severity, and potential solutions will also be available from the NVD. Access this information by clicking on the corresponding Common Platform Enumeration (CPE), then select the Vulnerability ID.
Guidelines for Submission
Submit the completed Static Testing Summary using the template provided. Be sure to include a screenshot of the HTML output from the dependency check and summarize the dependency check results and potential solutions. Your completed summary should be 12 pages in length.
