Source code security analysis (source code review) is the examination of an application's source code to find errors overlooked in the initial development phase. A tester launches a code analyzer that scans line-by-line the code of an application. Once the analyzer, deployed in a testing environment, finds vulnerabilities, the pentester manually checks them to eliminate false positives.

WHAT IS A CODE REVIEW?

As we stressed about human negligence, errors, and faults that may appear in the coding segment, the very cause calls for a code review just after the development phase. Code reviews point to a stage that adjoins the development cycle, where software source codes get exploited for detecting irregularities, inconsistencies, and quality against system requirements. A flat code could anytime trigger issues and inconsistencies while coming to the software integration part. It has raised a huge concern that needs to be addressed. A code review process targets five major areas that seek attention.

• • Code faults or issues
• • Code inconsistency
• • Code quality
• • Code efficiency
• • Documentation quality

With time-consuming factors at one end, many organisations prefer secure source code review services from testing experts. A standardised and accurate source code can be the solution-by-product that avails of the service benefits of a source code review company. There are two broad classifications of review systems, namely peer review and external review. A peer review points to the functionality, use, design, and implementation of suggested flaws in the stated problems. The reviewer should have the business background and expertise to deliver improvements. On the other end, an external review focuses on code quality and smells, improving its quality and effectiveness, and gelling in with different layers of the development cycle. An external reviewer’s expertise lies in the design and quality of codes and in proposing necessary changes and improvements.

NEED FOR SECURE  SOURCE CODE REVIEW:

1. Tracking and sorting bugs
An efficient source code review by an external reviewer can clearly track every bug that lurks in the code. Developers who write long codes on different projects can often make numerous errors and, if not properly sorted out, are prone to serious after-backs. The role of an external reviewer in the development phase helps to save time and payroll by catching bugs as early as possible. Earlier inspected, the cheaper it is to be fixed. A secure source code review company will look at every nook and cranny of your codebase relating to thread synchronisation issues, resource leaks, and security issues. They make sure that unit tests cover all code paths, error conditions, and limit cases.

2. Building code quality
Code review and source code security audits primarily aim for accurate code efficiency and bug-catching at the earliest. An effective code review helps to detect issues before they could turn into an upset for your organization. It can continuously improve code standards and quality, resulting in seamless integration and functionality for the software. Ultimately, the need for robust software gets met with effective code reviews and audits. The resulting product is well-tested, clear, bug-free, documented, and efficient code that can shine a light on software development and performance. Indeed, code quality is an element that can assure continuity and ease with any software project.

3. Maintainability and continuity
Software development is always a continual process, as with future enhancements, improvements, feature additions, and revamping. It never ceases with the initial creation or project completion. It is the responsibility of a developer to ensure continuity for the future. It also requires any other authorised person to modify the code in the absence of the parent creator. For this, the code should be efficient, maintainable, and fault-free from the roots. A source code review ensures that code lines have the necessary comments affixed and a proper code organization. Any other person involved in the project should get a clear image and context of the usage. An efficient code review focuses on such aspects and helps to deliver maximum continuity and maintainability.

4. Easing the QA test
Delivering a consistent standard while working on code reviews and audits can ease the clock and task for other specialist testers. Testers will have a clear idea and picture when you maintain consistency throughout. The QA testing phase will feel the ease and robustness of the source code without worrying about the quality of the codebase. A proper source code evaluation avoids further delays associated with the testing phase and could speed up the entire project. The reworking scenario in the development cycle gets eliminated while having the expert advice and service benefits of a source code review company.

5. Learning perspective
Code review supports knowledge sharing and learning. Every member of the project team will have a better understanding of coding flaws. Developers also learn to adapt to changes, reliable techniques, coding standards, and the best practices associated with them. While you have a code review service, it’s easy and flexible for any new project joiner to grab the insight. Perhaps code review gleams the learning light for everyone connected to the project. Senior developers can aid beginners with advisory roles, and even many source code review companies are ready to be a part of the core development team.

6. Effective documentation
Code reviews are an essential element responsible for effective documentation. The documentation is the canonical description of the review process and policies.
The quality assurance strategy of the review system helps organisations identify and spot code flaws and bugs and suggest improvements. Efficient documentation will reflect these insights and provide all details regarding the process. It also eases the way for developers to make future upgrades. It could be adding features or upgrading existing ones with the ongoing project.

DEVELOPING A CODE REVIEW PROCESS

The review methodology for securing a healthy code standard and eradicating potential threats relies on expert security professionals involved in the process. It requires experts to evaluate, identify, and prioritise software vulnerabilities detected in the testing phase of the review process.

• • Threat modeling: a ddeep study of the codebase, existing threats and vulnerabilities, and sorting a priority list for reviews.
• • Code Analysis: According to the requirement, security experts conduct analysis on source codes through manual or automated tests.
• • Reporting Phase: involves an executive summary of inspected issues and identified vulnerabilities with action plans or remediation measures.
• • Findings review:The reporting phase follows a findings review with the client technical team suggesting the best security practices in terms of deployment.

SECURE SOURCE CODE REVIEW METHODOLOGY:

While performing a secure source code review, the following areas are to be reviewed:

• Failures in identification, access control, and authentication.
• Inadequate error handling
• Potential exposure of sensitive data
• Various types of injection flaws

Automated code review tools (static application security testing tools) are able to identify several common coding errors that might lead to vulnerabilities.

The steps followed generally are:

1. Reconnaissance: In this step, the review team gets an understanding of how the programme operates. The review team looks into the real operating application and has a quick rundown of the database structures and libraries that are being used.

2. Threat Analysis: To understand the application architecture and identify the threats. Then the threats need to be prioritized. The organisation’s essential applications have to be identified. This threat analysis needs to be done for a group of applications.

3. Automated Review: Automated technologies are used to analyse large code bases. These are capable of locating all unsafe code packets in the database, which a security expert can later examine.

4. Manual Review: A manual assessment is crucial for tracking the attack surface of an application. Although it is time-consuming, it is very necessary.

5. Confirmation: The risks that are identified by the completion of automated and manual reviews are verified, and steps are taken to remediate the vulnerabilities.

6. Reports: All the findings from the above steps are compiled in a report. Every bug in the code is tested, and solutions to patch them are identified. Then the client’s development team and reviewer’s team discuss the problems and suggestions and fix the problems for secure application development.

APPLICATION SOURCE CODE REVIEWS:

The objective of the ControlCase code review exercise is to quantify the level of security exposure in your application environment. The code review test is an exercise to identify possible code defects from a security perspective. The assessment consists of a combination of tools (commercial and proprietary) as well as manual efforts. Types of areas covered in a typical application include:

• • JavaScript hijacking
• • Trust boundary violation
• • Socket-based communication in web application servers
• • Direct management of connections
• • Missing check against NULL
• • Unchecked return value
• • Unreleased resources
• • Unsafe mobile code from an access violation perspective
• • Unsafe array declaration
• • Empty the password in the configuration file.
• • Unhandled SSL exception
• • Command injection
• • Input Validation
• • LDAP Injection
• • Missing XML validation