List of software quality issues with the number of affected components.
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Detected Windows executable files that were compiled without following the recommended SDL process.
Causes risk: misconfigured toolchains detected
hardening
Problem
Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) is a group of enhanced compile-time checks that report common coding mistakes as errors, preventing them from reaching production. These checks minimize the number of security issues by enforcing strict memory access checks. They also prevent the use of hard-to-secure string and memory manipulation functions. To prove the binary has been compiled with these checks enabled, the compiler emits a special debug object. Removing the debug table eliminates this proof. Therefore, this check only applies to binaries that still have their debug tables.Prevalence in NuGet community
0 packages
found in
Top 100
3 packages
found in
Top 1k
47 packages
found in
Top 10k
13.12k packages
in community
Next steps
You should keep the debug table to prove that the SDL process has been followed.
To enable these checks, refer to your programming language toolchain documentation.
In Microsoft VisualStudio, you can enable this feature by setting the compiler option /SDL to ON.
Detected Windows executable files compiled without following the SDL best practices while using banned memory functions.
Causes risk: misconfigured toolchains detected
hardening
Problem
Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) is a group of enhanced compile-time checks that report common coding mistakes as errors. These checks prevent the use of hard-to-secure memory manipulation functions. They enforce static memory access checks, and allow only the use of range-verified memory access functions. While these checks do not prevent every memory corruption issue by themselves, they do help reduce the likelihood.Prevalence in NuGet community
0 packages
found in
Top 100
1 packages
found in
Top 1k
14 packages
found in
Top 10k
4.89k packages
in community
Next steps
It's highly recommended to enable these checks for all software components used at security boundaries, or those that process user controlled inputs.
To enable these checks, refer to your programming language toolchain documentation.
In Microsoft VisualStudio, you can enable this feature by setting the compiler option /SDL to ON.
Detected Windows executable files that embed PDB files whose integrity is verified with an insecure hashing algorithm.
Causes risk: outdated toolchains detected
hardening
Problem
Program database (PDB) files are typically only used during software development. They contain private debug symbols that make it significantly easier to reverse engineer a closed-source application. In some cases, having a program database file is equivalent to having access to the source code. Presence of program databases could indicate that one or more software components have been built using a debug profile, instead of the release.Prevalence in NuGet community
0 packages
found in
Top 100
14 packages
found in
Top 1k
69 packages
found in
Top 10k
19.61k packages
in community
Next steps
Private debug database files should not be embedded within executables, and you should remove them from the software package before releasing it.
The integrity verification of the embedded database files should not be done with insecure hashing algorithms. SHA1 and MD5 hashes should be deprecated throughout the application, and a more secure SHA256 algorithm should be used instead.
Detected Windows shared library files that do not suppress exports which reduces CFG vulnerability mitigation protection effectiveness.
Causes risk: low priority mitigations absent
hardening
Problem
Control Flow Guard (CFG/CFI) protects the code flow integrity by ensuring that dynamic calls are made only to vetted functions. Trusted execution paths rely on the ability of the operating system to build a list of valid function targets. Certain functions can intentionally be disallowed to prevent malicious code from deactivating vulnerability mitigation features. A list of such invalid function targets can include publicly exported symbols. Applications that enhance control flow integrity through export suppression rely on libraries to mark their publicly visible symbols as suppressed. This is done for all symbols that are considered to be sensitive functions, and to which access should be restricted. It is considered dangerous to mix applications that perform export suppression with libraries that do not.Prevalence in NuGet community
0 packages
found in
Top 100
1 packages
found in
Top 1k
49 packages
found in
Top 10k
15.48k packages
in community
Next steps
To enable this mitigation on library code, refer to your programming language toolchain documentation.
In Microsoft VisualStudio, you can enable CFG mitigation by passing the /guard:cf parameter to the compiler and linker.
Detected Windows executable files that do not implement long jump control flow vulnerability mitigation protection.
Causes risk: low priority mitigations absent
hardening
Problem
Control Flow Guard (CFG/CFI) protects the code flow integrity by ensuring that indirect calls are made only to vetted functions. This mitigation protects dynamically resolved function targets by instrumenting the code responsible for transferring execution control. Higher-level programming languages implement structured exception handling by managing their own code flow execution paths. As such, they are subject to code flow hijacking during runtime. Language-specific exception handling mitigation enforces execution integrity by instrumenting calls to manage execution context switching. Any deviation from the known and trusted code flow paths will cause the application to terminate. This makes malicious code less likely to execute.Prevalence in NuGet community
0 packages
found in
Top 100
2 packages
found in
Top 1k
52 packages
found in
Top 10k
16.15k packages
in community
Next steps
It's highly recommended to enable this option for all software components used at security boundaries, or those that process user controlled inputs.
To enable this mitigation, refer to your programming language toolchain documentation.
In Microsoft VisualStudio, you can enable CFG mitigation by passing the /guard:cf parameter to the compiler and linker.
Detected digital signatures that rely on a weak digest algorithm for integrity validation.
signatures
Problem
Digital signatures are applied to applications, packages and documents as a cryptographically secured authenticity record. Signatures verify the origin and the integrity of the object they apply to. The integrity validation relies on the cryptographic strength of the encryption and the hash verification algorithm. If either of the two is considered weak by current standards, there is a chance the signed object could be maliciously modified, without triggering the integrity failure check.Prevalence in NuGet community
0 packages
found in
Top 100
38 packages
found in
Top 1k
315 packages
found in
Top 10k
733.24k packages
in community
Next steps
Create signatures with strong ECC key-length of at least 224 bits, or RSA key-length of at least 2048 bits, and use SHA256 as the hashing algorithm. While encryption key-length upgrade does require you to obtain a new certificate, the hashing algorithm can freely be selected during signing.
With Microsoft SignTool, you can specify the hashing algorithm using the /fd SHA256 parameter.
Problem
Debug databases are typically only used during software development. On Windows, they are usually files embedded into the executable (PDB), while on Linux, they're contained inside special executable sections. The databases contain private debug symbols that make it significantly easier to reverse-engineer a closed-source application. In some cases, having a debug database is equivalent to having access to the source code. Presence of debug databases could indicate that one or more software components have been built using a debug profile, instead of the release. Private debug databases can be embedded into software components by programming language tools.Prevalence in NuGet community
0 packages
found in
Top 100
15 packages
found in
Top 1k
76 packages
found in
Top 10k
21.58k packages
in community
Next steps
To remediate this issue and remove private debugging information, refer to your programming language toolchain documentation.
Detected digital signatures that have not been performed with an extended validation certificate.
signatures
Problem
Digital signatures are applied to applications, packages and documents as a cryptographically secured authenticity record. Signatures are made using digital certificates, which can either be purchased from certificate authorities or be self-issued. When a certificate is purchased from a certificate authority, the subject that requests it goes through an identity validation process. Depending on the certificate type, those checks can be basic or extended. Confirming the subject identity is a multi-step process, and the requesting subject can be mapped to its legal entity name only through extended validation of submitted documents. Extended identity validation typically costs more, and it takes longer for a certificate to be issued when this process is correctly followed.Prevalence in NuGet community
0 packages
found in
Top 100
27 packages
found in
Top 1k
292 packages
found in
Top 10k
732.23k packages
in community
Next steps
Consider the benefits of acquiring extended validation certificates. Operating systems tend to be more trusting of software packages signed in this way. Certain security warnings and prompts might also be automatically suppressed. This reduces the number of support tickets for organizations that opt to use extended validation certificates.