An external API is defined as a method call to a method that is not defined in the source code, not overridden
-in the source code, and is not modeled as a taint step in the default taint library. External APIs may be from the
-Go standard library, third party dependencies or from internal dependencies. The query will report the method
-signature with a fully qualified name, along with either [param x], where x indicates the
-position of the parameter receiving the untrusted data or [receiver] indicating the untrusted data is
-used as the receiver of the method call.
An external API is defined as a call to a function that is not defined in the source code and is not
+modeled as a taint step in the default taint library. Calls made in test files are also excluded.
+External APIs may be from the Go standard library, third party dependencies or from internal dependencies.
+The query will report the fully qualified method name, along with either [param x],
+where x indicates the position of the parameter receiving the untrusted data or [receiver]
+indicating the untrusted data is used as the receiver of the method call.
If the query were to return the API javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.sendError(int, java.lang.String) [param 1]
-then we should first consider whether this a security relevant sink. In this case, this is writing to a HTTP response, so we should
+
If the query were to return the API fmt.Fprintf [param 2] then we should first consider
+whether this a security relevant sink. In this case, this is writing to a HTTP response, so we should
consider whether this is an XSS sink. If it is, we should confirm that it is handled by the XSS query.
If the query were to return the API java.lang.StringBuilder.append(java.lang.String) [param 0], then this should be
-reviewed as a possible taint step, because tainted data would flow from the 0th argument to the qualifier of the call.
If the query were to return the API fmt.Sprintf [param 1], then this should be
+reviewed as a possible taint step, because tainted data would flow from the 1st argument to the return value
+of the call.
Note that both examples are correctly handled by the standard taint tracking library and XSS query.
Using unsanitized untrusted data in an external API can cause a variety of security issues. This query reports -external APIs that use untrusted data. The results are not filtered so that you can audit all examples. The query -provides data for security reviews of the application and you can also use it to identify external APIs that should -be modeled as either taint steps, or sinks for specific problems.
+external APIs that use untrusted data. The results have very little filtering so that you can audit almost all +examples. The query provides data for security reviews of the application and you can also use it to identify +external APIs that should be modeled as either taint steps, or sinks for specific problems. -An external API is defined as a call to a function that is not defined in the source code, not overridden -in the source code, and is not modeled as a taint step in the default taint library. External APIs may be from the -Go standard library, third-party dependencies or from internal dependencies. The query reports uses of -untrusted data in either the qualifier or as one of the arguments of external APIs.
+An external API is defined as a call to a function that is not defined in the source code and is not +modeled as a taint step in the default taint library. Calls made in test files are also excluded. +External APIs may be from the Go standard library, third-party dependencies or from internal dependencies. +The query reports uses of untrusted data in either the receiver or as one of the arguments of external APIs.
In this first example, a request parameter is read from HttpServletRequest and then ultimately used in a call to the
-HttpServletResponse.sendError external API:
In this first example, a request parameter is read from http.Request and then ultimately used in a call to the
+fmt.Fprintf external API:
This is an XSS sink. The XSS query should therefore be reviewed to confirm that this sink is appropriately modeled, and if it is, to confirm that the query reports this particular result, or that the result is a false positive due to some existing sanitization.
-In this second example, again a request parameter is read from HttpServletRequest.
In this second example, again a request parameter is read from http.Request.
If the query reported the call to StringBuilder.append on line 7, this would suggest that this external API is
-not currently modeled as a taint step in the taint tracking library. The next step would be to model this as a taint step, then
-re-run the query to determine what additional results might be found. In this example, it seems likely that the result of the
-StringBuilder will be executed as an SQL query, potentially leading to an SQL injection vulnerability.
If the query reported the call to fmt.Sprintf, this would suggest that this external API is not currently
+modeled as a taint step in the taint tracking library. The next step would be to model this as a taint step, then
+re-run the query to determine what additional results might be found. In this example, an SQL injection vulnerability
+would be reported.
Note that both examples are correctly handled by the standard taint tracking library and XSS query.
+Note that both examples are correctly handled by the standard taint tracking library, the reflected XSS query and SQL +injection query.
Using unsanitized untrusted data in an external API can cause a variety of security issues. This query reports +external APIs that use untrusted data. The results have been filtered. The query provides data for security +reviews of the application and you can also use it to identify external APIs that should be modeled as either +taint steps, or sinks for specific problems.
+ +An external API is defined as a call to a function that is not defined in the source code and is not +modeled as a taint step in the default taint library. Calls made in test files are also excluded. +External APIs may be from the Go standard library, third-party dependencies or from internal dependencies. +The query reports uses of untrusted data in either the receiver or as one of the arguments of external APIs.
+ +An external API is considered unknown if it is not in a package which has already been modeled, it is not +a sink for an existing query and it is not in a list of external APIs which have been examined and determined +to not be a possible source of security vulnerabilities.
+For each result:
+ +Otherwise, the result is likely uninteresting. Custom versions of this query can extend the SafeExternalAPIMethod
+class to exclude known safe external APIs from future analysis.
In this first example, a request parameter is read from http.Request and then ultimately used in a call to the
+fmt.Fprintf external API:
This is an XSS sink. The XSS query should therefore be reviewed to confirm that this sink is appropriately modeled, +and if it is, to confirm that the query reports this particular result, or that the result is a false positive due to +some existing sanitization.
+ +In this second example, again a request parameter is read from http.Request.
If the query reported the call to fmt.Sprintf, this would suggest that this external API is not currently
+modeled as a taint step in the taint tracking library. The next step would be to model this as a taint step, then
+re-run the query to determine what additional results might be found. In this example, an SQL injection vulnerability
+would be reported.
Note that both examples are correctly handled by the standard taint tracking library, the reflected XSS query and SQL +injection query.
+