Come for Syntax, Stay for Speed, Write Secure Code: An Empirical Study of Security Weaknesses in Julia Programs
Context: Practitioners prefer to achieve performance without sacrificing productivity when developing scientific software. The Julia programming language is designed to develop performant computer programs without sacrificing productivity by providing a syntax that is scripting in nature. According to the Julia programming language website, the common projects are data science, machine learning, scientific domains, and parallel computing. While Julia has yielded benefits with respect to productivity, programs written in Julia can include security weaknesses, which can hamper the security of Julia-based scientific software. A systematic derivation of security weaknesses can facilitate secure development of Julia programs—an area that remains under-explored.
Objective: The goal of this paper is to help practitioners securely develop Julia programs by conducting an empirical study of security weaknesses found in Julia programs.
Methodology: We apply qualitative analysis on 4,592 Julia programs used in 126 open-source Julia projects to identify security weakness categories. Next, we construct a static analysis tool called Julia Static Analysis Tool (JSAT) that automatically identifies security weaknesses in Julia programs. We apply JSAT to automatically identify security weaknesses in 558 open-source Julia projects consisting of 25,008 Julia programs.
Results: We identify 7 security weakness categories, which include the usage of hard-coded password and unsafe invocation. From our empirical study we identify 23,839 security weaknesses. On average, we observe 24.9% Julia source code files to include at least one of the 7 security weakness categories.
Conclusion: Based on our research findings, we recommend rigorous inspection efforts during code reviews. We also recommend further development and application of security static analysis tools so that security weaknesses in Julia programs can be detected before execution.
Tue 24 JunDisplayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change
10:30 - 12:30 | SecurityJournal First / Research Papers / Industry Papers at Aurora B Chair(s): Zhenchang Xing CSIRO’s Data61; Australian National University | ||
10:30 20mTalk | Come for Syntax, Stay for Speed, Write Secure Code: An Empirical Study of Security Weaknesses in Julia Programs Journal First Yue Zhang Auburn University, Justin Murphy Tennessee Tech University, Akond Rahman Auburn University | ||
10:50 20mTalk | AIM: Automated Input Set Minimization for Metamorphic Security Testing Journal First Nazanin Bayati Chaleshtari University of Ottawa, Yoann Marquer University of Luxembourg, Fabrizio Pastore University of Luxembourg, Lionel Briand University of Ottawa, Canada; Lero centre, University of Limerick, Ireland | ||
11:10 20mTalk | Understanding Industry Perspectives of Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Evaluation Research Papers Yuan Li Zhejiang University, Peisen Yao Zhejiang University, Kan Yu Ant Group, Chengpeng Wang Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Yaoyang Ye Zhejiang University, Song Li The State Key Laboratory of Blockchain and Data Security, Zhejiang University, Meng Luo The State Key Laboratory of Blockchain and Data Security, Zhejiang University, Yepang Liu Southern University of Science and Technology, Kui Ren Zhejiang University DOI | ||
11:30 20mTalk | Efficient and Robust Security-Patch Localization for Disclosed OSS Vulnerabilities with Fine-Tuned LLMs in an Industrial Setting Industry Papers Dezhi Ran Peking University, Lin Li Huawei Cloud Computing Technologies Co., Ltd., Liuchuan Zhu Huawei Cloud Computing Technologies Co., Ltd., Yuan Cao Peking University, Landelong Zhao Peking University, Xin Tan Beihang University, Guangtai Liang Huawei Cloud Computing Technologies, Qianxiang Wang Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd, Tao Xie Peking University | ||
11:50 20mTalk | It’s Acting Odd! Exploring Equivocal Behaviors of Goodware Research Papers Gregorio Dalia University of Sannio, Andrea Di Sorbo University of Sannio, Corrado A. Visaggio University of Sannio, Italy, Gerardo Canfora University of Sannio DOI | ||
12:10 20mTalk | On the Unnecessary Complexity of Names in X.509 and Their Impact on Implementations Research Papers Yuteng Sun The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Joyanta Debnath Stony Brook University, Wenzheng Hong Independent, Omar Chowdhury Stony Brook University, Sze Yiu Chau The Chinese University of Hong Kong DOI | ||
Aurora B is the second room in the Aurora wing.
When facing the main Cosmos Hall, access to the Aurora wing is on the right, close to the side entrance of the hotel.