Spectra Assure

warningRisk: Hardening

Scanned:

serial-plotter

Artifact:

latest

Top 10k

Plot data received via a serial port in a dedicated pane.

License: unknown

Published:

Publisher: badlogicgames

Visit GitHub

See on Visual Studio Code

SAFE Assessment

Compliance

Licenses

No license compliance issues

Secrets

No sensitive information found

Security

Vulnerabilities

No known vulnerabilities detected

Hardening

4 execution hijacking concerns

Threats

Tampering

No evidence of software tampering

Malware

No evidence of malware inclusion

List of software quality issues with the number of affected components.

Policies

Info

Problem

Software developers use programming and design knowledge to build reusable software components. Software components are the basic building blocks for modern applications. Software consumed by an enterprise consists of hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of open source components. Software developers publish components they have authored to public repositories. While a new software project is a welcome addition to the open source community, it is not always prudent to indiscriminately use the latest components when building a commercial application. Irrespective of the software quality, the danger of being the first to try out a new project lies in the fact that the software component may contain novel, currently undetected malicious code. Therefore, it is prudent to review software component behaviors and even try out software component in a sandbox, an environment meant for testing untrusted code.

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

25 packages

found in

Top 100

151 packages

found in

Top 1k

793 packages

found in

Top 10k

3.71k packages

in community

Next steps

Check the software component behaviors for anomalies.

Consider exploratory software component testing within a sandbox environment.

Consider replacing the software component with a more widely used alternative.

Avoid using this software package until it is vetted as safe.

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 Visual Studio Code community

43 packages

found in

Top 100

257 packages

found in

Top 1k

754 packages

found in

Top 10k

3.7k 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.

Problem

Buffer overrun protection on Linux is achieved in two ways. The most common solution is to use the stack canary (also called cookie). The stack canary is a special value written onto the stack that allows the operating system to detect and terminate the program if a stack overrun occurs. In most cases, compilers will apply the stack canary conservatively in order to avoid a negative performance impact. Therefore, stack canaries are often used together with another stack overrun mitigation - fortified functions. Fortified functions are usually wrappers around standard glibc functions (such as memcpy) which perform boundary checks either at compile time or run time to determine if a memory violation has occurred. The compiler needs additional context to generate such calls (for example, array size that needs to be known at compile time). Because of this, the compiler will virtually never substitute all viable functions with their fortified counterparts in complex programs. However, when combined with the stack canary, fortified functions provide a good measure of buffer overrun protection.

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

24 packages

found in

Top 100

135 packages

found in

Top 1k

268 packages

found in

Top 10k

1.02k packages

in community

Next steps

Presence of unfortified string functions may indicate use of unsafe programming practices, and you should avoid it if possible.

In GCC, enable fortified functions with -fstack-protector and -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 flag, while using at least -O1 optimization level.

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

31 packages

found in

Top 100

180 packages

found in

Top 1k

449 packages

found in

Top 10k

1.78k packages

in community

Next steps

Presence of unfortified memory functions may indicate use of unsafe programming practices, and you should avoid it if possible.

In GCC, enable fortified functions with -fstack-protector and -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 flag, while using at least -O1 optimization level.

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 Visual Studio Code community

36 packages

found in

Top 100

208 packages

found in

Top 1k

646 packages

found in

Top 10k

3.22k 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.

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 Visual Studio Code community

47 packages

found in

Top 100

286 packages

found in

Top 1k

912 packages

found in

Top 10k

4.37k 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.

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. Function pointers that get resolved through import and delayed import address tables do not need to be monitored during application runtime. Instead, it is expected that modern programming language toolchains place those pointers in read-only memory locations. However, the delayed import functions are resolved as they are needed during runtime. To ensure the function pointers remain read-only, the operating system must be made aware if it is safe to re-protect the memory pages that hold them. Modern toolchains typically separate import data from other application regions for this very reason.

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

29 packages

found in

Top 100

152 packages

found in

Top 1k

499 packages

found in

Top 10k

2.4k packages

in community

Next steps

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.

Problem

On Linux, external symbols are resolved via the procedure linkage table (PLT) and the global offset table (GOT). Without any protection, both are writable at runtime and thus leave the executable vulnerable to pointer hijacking - an attack where the function address is overwritten with an address of a malicious function. Pointer hijacking can be mitigated by using full read-only relocations, which instruct the compiler to unify global offset tables into a single read-only table. This requires that all external function symbols are resolved at load-time instead of during execution, and may increase loading time for large programs.

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

33 packages

found in

Top 100

214 packages

found in

Top 1k

655 packages

found in

Top 10k

2.68k packages

in community

Next steps

In most cases, it's recommended to use full read-only relocations (in GCC: -Wl,-z,relro,-z,now).

If the executable load-time is an issue, you should use partial read-only relocations.

Problem

Fortified functions are usually wrappers around standard glibc functions (such as memcpy) which perform boundary checks either at compile time or run time to determine if a memory violation has occurred. The compiler needs additional context to generate such calls (for example, array size that needs to be known at compile time). Because of this, the compiler will virtually never substitute all viable functions with their fortified counterparts in complex programs. However, lack of any fortified functions may indicate that this compiler feature was not used at all.

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

32 packages

found in

Top 100

169 packages

found in

Top 1k

388 packages

found in

Top 10k

1.53k packages

in community

Next steps

In GCC, you can enable fortified functions with -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 flag, while using at least -O1 optimization level.

Did you know...

... that you can use ReversingLabs’ Spectra Assure platform to perform regular risk assessments of packages you develop in-house?

We recommend continuous software safeness monitoring through CI/CD integrations and pre-release/deployment checks. In addition to basic package information found on this page our platform offers rich reports for developers and DevSecOps that help them remediate all reported issues.

This website uses cookies to ensure the best website experience. By continuing to use this website you are giving your consent to cookies being used. Detailed information about our use of cookies is here.

List of software quality issues with the number of affected components.

Policies

Info

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

25 packages

found in

Top 100

151 packages

found in

Top 1k

793 packages

found in

Top 10k

3.71k packages

in community

Next steps

Check the software component behaviors for anomalies.

Consider exploratory software component testing within a sandbox environment.

Consider replacing the software component with a more widely used alternative.

Avoid using this software package until it is vetted as safe.

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

43 packages

found in

Top 100

257 packages

found in

Top 1k

754 packages

found in

Top 10k

3.7k 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.

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

24 packages

found in

Top 100

135 packages

found in

Top 1k

268 packages

found in

Top 10k

1.02k packages

in community

Next steps

Presence of unfortified string functions may indicate use of unsafe programming practices, and you should avoid it if possible.

In GCC, enable fortified functions with -fstack-protector and -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 flag, while using at least -O1 optimization level.

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

31 packages

found in

Top 100

180 packages

found in

Top 1k

449 packages

found in

Top 10k

1.78k packages

in community

Next steps

Presence of unfortified memory functions may indicate use of unsafe programming practices, and you should avoid it if possible.

In GCC, enable fortified functions with -fstack-protector and -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 flag, while using at least -O1 optimization level.

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

36 packages

found in

Top 100

208 packages

found in

Top 1k

646 packages

found in

Top 10k

3.22k 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.

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

47 packages

found in

Top 100

286 packages

found in

Top 1k

912 packages

found in

Top 10k

4.37k 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.

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. Function pointers that get resolved through import and delayed import address tables do not need to be monitored during application runtime. Instead, it is expected that modern programming language toolchains place those pointers in read-only memory locations. However, the delayed import functions are resolved as they are needed during runtime. To ensure the function pointers remain read-only, the operating system must be made aware if it is safe to re-protect the memory pages that hold them. Modern toolchains typically separate import data from other application regions for this very reason.

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

29 packages

found in

Top 100

152 packages

found in

Top 1k

499 packages

found in

Top 10k

2.4k packages

in community

Next steps

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.

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

33 packages

found in

Top 100

214 packages

found in

Top 1k

655 packages

found in

Top 10k

2.68k packages

in community

Next steps

In most cases, it's recommended to use full read-only relocations (in GCC: -Wl,-z,relro,-z,now).

If the executable load-time is an issue, you should use partial read-only relocations.

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

32 packages

found in

Top 100

169 packages

found in

Top 1k

388 packages

found in

Top 10k

1.53k packages

in community

Next steps

In GCC, you can enable fortified functions with -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 flag, while using at least -O1 optimization level.

serial-plotter

SAFE Assessment

Compliance

Security

Threats

TH30106Detected presence of software components that have low popularity or number of downloads.hunting

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ14138Detected Windows executable files that were compiled without following the recommended SDL process.Causes risk: misconfigured toolchains detectedhardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ18105Detected Linux executable files compiled without any kind of buffer overrun protection while using banned string functions.Causes risk: misconfigured toolchains detectedhardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ18106Detected Linux executable files compiled without any kind of buffer overrun protection while using banned memory functions.Causes risk: misconfigured toolchains detectedhardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ14125Detected Windows shared library files that do not suppress exports which reduces CFG vulnerability mitigation protection effectiveness.Causes risk: low priority mitigations absenthardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ14127Detected Windows executable files that do not implement long jump control flow vulnerability mitigation protection.Causes risk: low priority mitigations absenthardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ14128Detected Windows executable files that do not implement delayed import function hijacking mitigation protection.Causes risk: low priority mitigations absenthardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ18113Detected Linux executable files that were compiled without the recommended dynamic symbol hijacking protections.Causes risk: execution hijacking concernshardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ18108Detected Linux executable files without any fortified functions.Causes risk: low priority mitigations absenthardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

Did you know...

TH30106Detected presence of software components that have low popularity or number of downloads.hunting

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ14138Detected Windows executable files that were compiled without following the recommended SDL process.Causes risk: misconfigured toolchains detectedhardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ18105Detected Linux executable files compiled without any kind of buffer overrun protection while using banned string functions.Causes risk: misconfigured toolchains detectedhardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ18106Detected Linux executable files compiled without any kind of buffer overrun protection while using banned memory functions.Causes risk: misconfigured toolchains detectedhardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ14125Detected Windows shared library files that do not suppress exports which reduces CFG vulnerability mitigation protection effectiveness.Causes risk: low priority mitigations absenthardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ14127Detected Windows executable files that do not implement long jump control flow vulnerability mitigation protection.Causes risk: low priority mitigations absenthardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ14128Detected Windows executable files that do not implement delayed import function hijacking mitigation protection.Causes risk: low priority mitigations absenthardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ18113Detected Linux executable files that were compiled without the recommended dynamic symbol hijacking protections.Causes risk: execution hijacking concernshardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps

SQ18108Detected Linux executable files without any fortified functions.Causes risk: low priority mitigations absenthardening

Problem

Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community

Next steps