Skill v1.0.1
currentAutomated scan100/1004 files
version: "1.0.1" name: Security Code Review description: Identify security vulnerabilities and suggest secure coding practices
Security Code Review Guidelines
When reviewing code for security issues, systematically check for common vulnerabilities and suggest secure alternatives.
OWASP Top 10 Focus Areas
1. Injection Attacks (SQL, NoSQL, Command, LDAP)
Look for:
- String concatenation in SQL queries
- Unsanitized user input in database queries
- Direct execution of user input
Vulnerable:
// SQL InjectionString query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '" + username + "'";Statement stmt = connection.createStatement();ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(query);// Command InjectionRuntime.getRuntime().exec("ping " + userInput);
Secure:
// Use Prepared StatementsString query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ?";PreparedStatement pstmt = connection.prepareStatement(query);pstmt.setString(1, username);ResultSet rs = pstmt.executeQuery();// Avoid direct command execution; use APIs instead// If unavoidable, validate and sanitize inputList<String> allowedHosts = Arrays.asList("localhost", "example.com");if (allowedHosts.contains(userInput)) {// proceed}
2. Broken Authentication
Look for:
- Passwords stored in plain text
- Weak password requirements
- Missing session timeout
- Predictable session IDs
- Missing multi-factor authentication
Vulnerable:
// Plain text passworduser.setPassword(password);// Weak session IDString sessionId = user.getId() + System.currentTimeMillis();
Secure:
// Hash passwords with bcryptBCryptPasswordEncoder encoder = new BCryptPasswordEncoder();String hashedPassword = encoder.encode(password);user.setPassword(hashedPassword);// Use cryptographically secure random session IDsString sessionId = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
3. Sensitive Data Exposure
Look for:
- Logging sensitive information
- Transmitting data over HTTP
- Storing secrets in code
- Returning detailed error messages
Vulnerable:
// Logging sensitive datalogger.info("User password: " + password);// Hardcoded secretsString apiKey = "sk_live_1234567890abcdef";// Detailed error messagescatch (Exception e) {return "Database error: " + e.getMessage();}
Secure:
// Mask sensitive data in logslogger.info("User authenticated: " + username);// Use environment variablesString apiKey = System.getenv("API_KEY");// Generic error messages for userscatch (Exception e) {logger.error("Database error", e); // Log details internallyreturn "An error occurred. Please try again later.";}
4. XML External Entities (XXE)
Look for:
- XML parsers without XXE protection
- Processing untrusted XML data
Vulnerable:
DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();Document doc = builder.parse(userProvidedXml);
Secure:
DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();factory.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/disallow-doctype-decl", true);factory.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities", false);factory.setFeature("http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities", false);DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();Document doc = builder.parse(userProvidedXml);
5. Broken Access Control
Look for:
- Missing authorization checks
- Insecure direct object references
- Path traversal vulnerabilities
- CORS misconfiguration
Vulnerable:
// No authorization check@GetMapping("/users/{id}")public User getUser(@PathVariable Long id) {return userRepository.findById(id);}// Path traversalFile file = new File("/uploads/" + filename);
Secure:
// Check authorization@GetMapping("/users/{id}")public User getUser(@PathVariable Long id, Principal principal) {User currentUser = getCurrentUser(principal);if (!currentUser.canAccess(id)) {throw new AccessDeniedException("Unauthorized");}return userRepository.findById(id);}// Validate and sanitize file pathsPath basePath = Paths.get("/uploads").toAbsolutePath().normalize();Path filePath = basePath.resolve(filename).normalize();if (!filePath.startsWith(basePath)) {throw new SecurityException("Invalid file path");}
6. Security Misconfiguration
Look for:
- Debug mode in production
- Default credentials
- Unnecessary features enabled
- Missing security headers
- Verbose error messages
Vulnerable:
# application.ymlspring:profiles:active: devdebug: true
Secure:
# application-prod.ymlspring:profiles:active: proddebug: false# Add security headersserver:servlet:session:cookie:secure: truehttp-only: true
7. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Look for:
- Unescaped user input in HTML
- innerHTML usage with user data
- Dangerous template rendering
Vulnerable:
// Reflected XSSdocument.getElementById('greeting').innerHTML ="Hello " + userInput;// DOM-based XSSelement.innerHTML = location.hash.substring(1);
Secure:
// Escape user inputdocument.getElementById('greeting').textContent ="Hello " + userInput;// Use safe methodsconst div = document.createElement('div');div.textContent = userInput;element.appendChild(div);
8. Insecure Deserialization
Look for:
- Deserializing untrusted data
- Using vulnerable serialization libraries
Vulnerable:
ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(userInputStream);Object obj = ois.readObject(); // Dangerous!
Secure:
// Use safe alternatives like JSONObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();MyObject obj = mapper.readValue(jsonString, MyObject.class);// If ObjectInputStream required, validate class typesObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(userInputStream) {@Overrideprotected Class<?> resolveClass(ObjectStreamClass desc)throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {if (!desc.getName().equals("com.example.SafeClass")) {throw new InvalidClassException("Unauthorized deserialization");}return super.resolveClass(desc);}};
9. Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities
Look for:
- Outdated dependencies
- Unpatched libraries
- Dependencies with security advisories
Check:
# Mavenmvn versions:display-dependency-updatesmvn dependency-check:check# npmnpm audit# Pythonpip-audit
Recommendation:
- Keep dependencies updated
- Monitor security advisories
- Use dependency scanning tools in CI/CD
- Remove unused dependencies
10. Insufficient Logging and Monitoring
Look for:
- No audit logs for security events
- Missing failed login tracking
- No alerting for suspicious activity
Vulnerable:
@PostMapping("/login")public void login(String username, String password) {if (authenticate(username, password)) {// Login successful}// No logging}
Secure:
@PostMapping("/login")public void login(String username, String password, HttpServletRequest request) {boolean success = authenticate(username, password);if (success) {auditLog.info("Successful login: user={}, ip={}",username, request.getRemoteAddr());} else {auditLog.warn("Failed login attempt: user={}, ip={}",username, request.getRemoteAddr());failedLoginTracker.record(username, request.getRemoteAddr());}}
Additional Security Checks
Cryptography
Look for:
- Use of weak algorithms (MD5, SHA1, DES)
- Hardcoded encryption keys
- Missing initialization vectors
- Weak random number generators
Vulnerable:
MessageDigest md = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");Random random = new Random();byte[] key = "hardcodedkey1234".getBytes();
Secure:
MessageDigest md = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256");SecureRandom random = new SecureRandom();byte[] key = loadKeyFromSecureStorage();
API Security
Look for:
- Missing rate limiting
- No API authentication
- Excessive data exposure
- Missing input validation
Secure Practices:
@RestController@RequestMapping("/api/v1")public class UserController {// Rate limiting@RateLimiter(name = "userApi")@GetMapping("/users")public Page<UserDto> getUsers(@RequestParam(defaultValue = "0") int page,@RequestParam(defaultValue = "20") int size,Principal principal) {// Validate inputif (size > 100) {throw new IllegalArgumentException("Page size too large");}// Return only necessary fieldsreturn userService.findAll(page, size).map(this::toDto);}}
Security Review Checklist
When reviewing code, check:
- [ ] Input validation on all user inputs
- [ ] Output encoding for all user-controlled data
- [ ] Parameterized queries for all database access
- [ ] Authentication on all protected resources
- [ ] Authorization checks before accessing resources
- [ ] Secure password storage (bcrypt, Argon2)
- [ ] HTTPS for all data transmission
- [ ] Security headers (CSP, X-Frame-Options, etc.)
- [ ] Error handling that doesn't leak information
- [ ] Logging of security-relevant events
- [ ] Rate limiting on public APIs
- [ ] CSRF protection for state-changing operations
- [ ] Updated dependencies without known vulnerabilities
- [ ] Secrets stored in environment variables or vault
- [ ] Proper session management and timeout
Reporting Security Issues
When documenting security findings:
### [CRITICAL] SQL Injection in User Search**Location**: UserController.java:45**Issue**: User input is concatenated directly into SQL query, allowing SQL injection attacks.**Vulnerable Code**:
String query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE '%" + searchTerm + "%'";
**Impact**: Attackers can execute arbitrary SQL, potentially accessing all database data or modifying records.**Recommendation**: Use parameterized queries with PreparedStatement.**Fixed Code**:
String query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE ?"; PreparedStatement stmt = connection.prepareStatement(query); stmt.setString(1, "%" + searchTerm + "%");
**Severity**: Critical**CVSS Score**: 9.8 (Critical)**Remediation Priority**: Immediate
When This Skill Activates
This skill automatically activates when:
- Reviewing code for security vulnerabilities
- Performing security audits
- Analyzing authentication/authorization code
- Checking for OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities
- Questions about secure coding practices
- Reviewing API security
- Analyzing cryptographic implementations