Most companies have begun building applications and software with open source code, which works well for saving time during the development process, but it can be a security nightmare down the line. Open source code comes with no guarantees of quality or freedom from vulnerabilities, so building an app with it carries risk. A staggering number of organizations who use open source code also have high-risk or critical vulnerabilities that put them at risk of a data breach or other attack. You don’t want to be one of them.
Naturally, you should aim to prioritize and patch your vulnerabilities and potential attack vectors, but because of the time and resources this will take, it’s important to protect your applications with Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) in the meantime. Especially when combined with a WAF, RASP can provide useful monitoring and immediate responses to suspicious activity. It can’t fix your code, but RASP can help you keep attackers out of your environment.
Open Source Security is Challenging
There are many advantages to open source code. It saves DevSecOps teams time and resources, and because the code is widely used and easily accessed, there generally are plenty of available troubleshooting resources when something goes wrong. However, if security teams do not carefully inspect the code before using it, there can be challenges.
Because open source code is publicly accessible and editable, many different hands have had some part in creating the application or software your company plans to use. Without a thorough reading of the code, you won’t know exactly what it contains or whether it is completely compatible with your systems and plans for the code. The age of the code is also a factor; if it hasn’t been updated in a few years, it’s almost certainly riddled with exploits. Possibly, the code you intend to use is low-quality, or it may contain malware and intentional security holes.
Additionally, open source software is available to everyone, including attackers. This enables them to look at the code on which you build your applications and devise ways to exploit it. Most likely, your company has many applications that use open source code, so there are numerous potential vectors of attack, and you probably don’t know what many of them are.
The Scope of the Open Source Security Problem
According to a Synopsys report, 96% of commercial codebases contained open source code. Depending on the industry, this number could reach 100%, as it has in the Internet of Things and several other sectors. The growing number of businesses that rely on open source code has been found over the last few years to correlate with increased vulnerabilities. Although the numbers are not the same across all industries, since 2019, vulnerabilities have increased as much as 557%.
Outdated code has also persisted in many codebases despite companies’ efforts to improve their security. For example, the Log4j exploit persists in 5% of all audited codebases. Generally, 89% of codebases contained code that was at least four years old, and 91% did not apply an update or patch when it was available.
This is a major problem for organizations. While they may implement security tools and follow best practices, these old and unpatched vulnerabilities are high-risk liabilities. Attackers are interested in everything from software to APIs, so it’s important to secure everything in your environment.
Securing Vulnerable and Malicious Libraries
A full inventory of every piece of open source code written into your applications and software is a tall order. However, there are ways to improve your security and discover your vulnerabilities that won’t use up all of your resources indefinitely. Static testing is a good place to start, which you can do with SAST tools. Additionally, while it’s important to patch as many vulnerabilities as possible, this does take time, and you should invest in an extra layer of security.
Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) can end users’ sessions if they behave unusually and alert you when there is unauthorized access, a potential insider threat, or suspicious activity. A RASP can also stop application execution when needed. Combined with a web application firewall, a RASP can detect unusual behavior and attempted exploitation of unknown vulnerabilities within an application or software.
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Open source code may have vulnerabilities or malicious backdoors built in, so if your organization is using it, you need to address those problems before an attacker uses them against you. Ideally, you would be able to identify and patch every vulnerability, but this is time-consuming and difficult, and you likely will not be able to completely secure your environment before an attacker seizes the opportunity to exploit your weaknesses. That in mind, you should consider solutions like RASP that can help protect you but don’t depend on the integrity of your application code.
