Secure software development: leveraging application call graphs to detect security vulnerabilities.

Abstract

The inconsistency in software development standards frequently leads to vulnerabilities that can jeopardize an application's cryptographic integrity. This situation can result in incomplete or flawed encryption processes. Vulnerabilities may manifest as missing, bypassed, or improperly executed encryption functions or the absence of critical cryptographic mechanisms, which eventually weaken security goals. This article introduces a thorough method for detecting vulnerabilities using dynamic and static analysis, focusing on a cryptographic function dominance tree. This strategy systematically minimizes the likelihood of integrity breaches in cryptographic applications. A layered and modular model is developed to maintain integrity by mapping the entire flow of cryptographic function calls across various components. The cryptographic function call graph and dominance tree are extracted and subsequently analyzed using an integrated dynamic and static technique. The extracted information undergoes strict evaluation against the anticipated function call sequence in the relevant cryptographic module to identify and localize potential security issues. Experimental findings demonstrate that the proposed method considerably enhances the accuracy and comprehensiveness of vulnerability detection in cryptographic applications, improving implementation security and resilience against misuse vulnerabilities.