Secure Programming with Static Analysis

1. The Software Security Problem

Success is foreseeing failure.

–HENRY PETROSKI

We believe that the most effective way to improve software security is to study past security errors and prevent them from happening in the future. In fact, that is the primary theme of this book. In the following chapters, we look at a variety of programming tasks and examine the common security pitfalls associated with them. Our philosophy is similar to that of Henry Petroski: To build a strong system, you have to understand how the system is likely to fail [Petroski, 1985]. Mistakes are inevitable, but you have a measure of control over your mistakes. Although you can’t have precise knowledge of your next blunder, you can control the set of possibilities. You ...