Why Don’t Developers Detect Improper Input Validation? '; DROP TABLE Papers; --

Braz, L., Fregnan, E., Çalikli, G. and Bacchelli, A. (2021) Why Don’t Developers Detect Improper Input Validation? '; DROP TABLE Papers; --. In: 2021 IEEE/ACM 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 22-30 May 2021, pp. 499-511. ISBN 9781665402965 (doi: 10.1109/ICSE43902.2021.00054)

Abstract

Improper Input Validation (IIV) is a software vulnerability that occurs when a system does not safely handle input data. Even though IIV is easy to detect and fix, it still commonly happens in practice. In this paper, we study to what extent developers can detect IIV and investigate underlying reasons. This knowledge is essential to better understand how to support developers in creating secure software systems. We conduct an online experiment with 146 participants, of which 105 report at least three years of professional software development experience. Our results show that the existence of a visible attack scenario facilitates the detection of IIV vulnerabilities and that a significant portion of developers who did not find the vulnerability initially could identify it when warned about its existence. Yet, a total of 60 participants could not detect the vulnerability even after the warning. Other factors, such as the frequency with which the participants perform code reviews, influence the detection of IIV. Preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.06251. Data and materials: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3996696.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Calikli, Dr Handan Gul
• Authors: Braz, L., Fregnan, E., Çalikli, G., and Bacchelli, A.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• ISSN: 1558-1225
• ISBN: 9781665402965

Related URLs

• arXiv

• Data DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3996696