Robert C. Seacord

Fred Long

Dhruv Mohindra

Dean F. Sutherland

David Svoboda

“A must-read for all Java developers. . . . Every developer has a responsibility to author code that is free of significant security vulnerabilities. This book provides realistic guidance to help Java developers implement desired functionality with security, reliability, and maintainability goals in mind.” –Mary Ann Davidson, Chief Security Officer, Oracle Corporation Organizations worldwide rely on Java code to perform mission-critical tasks, and therefore that code must be reliable, robust, fast, maintainable, and secure. Java™ Coding Guidelines brings together expert guidelines, recommendations, and code examples to help you meet these demands. Written by the same team that brought you The CERT® Oracle ® Secure Coding Standard for Java™, this guide extends that previous work’s expert security advice to address many additional quality attributes. You’ll find 75 guidelines, each presented consistently and intuitively. For each guideline, conformance requirements are specified; for most, noncompliant code examples and compliant solutions are also offered. The authors explain when to apply each guideline and provide references to even more detailed information. Reflecting pioneering research on Java security, Java™ Coding Guidelines offers updated techniques for protecting against both deliberate attacks and other unexpected events. You’ll find best practices for improving code reliability and clarity, and a full chapter exposing common misunderstandings that lead to suboptimal code. With a Foreword by James A. Gosling, Father of the Java Programming Language

75 Recommendations for Reliable and Secure Programs

Java Coding Guidelines

The only comprehensive set of guidelines for secure Java programming - from the field's leading organizations, CERT and Oracle • •Authoritative, end-to-end code-level requirements for building secure systems with any recent version of Java, including the new Java 7 •Presents techniques that also improve safety, reliability, dependability, robustness, availability, maintainability, and other attributes of quality. •Includes extensive risk assessment guidance, plus references for further information. This is the first authoritative, comprehensive compilation of code-level requirements for building secure systems in Java. Organized by CERT's pioneering software security experts, with support from Oracle's own Java platform developers, it covers every facet of secure software coding with Java 7 SE and Java 6 SE, and offers value even to developers working with other Java versions. The authors itemize the most common coding errors leading to vulnerabilities in Java programs, and provide specific guidelines for avoiding each of them. They show how to produce programs that are not only secure, but also safer, more reliable, more robust, and easier to maintain. After a high-level introduction to Java application security, eighteen consistently-organized chapters detail specific guidelines for each facet of Java development. Each set of guidelines defines conformance, presents both noncompliant examples and corresponding compliant solutions, shows how to assess risk, and offers references for further information. To limit this book's size, the authors focus on 'normative requirements': strict rules for what programmers must do for their work to be secure, as defined by conformance to specific standards that can be tested through automated analysis software. (Note: A follow-up book will present 'non-normative requirements': recommendations for what Java developers typically 'should' do to further strengthen program security beyond testable 'requirements.')

The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java

“In the Java world, security is not viewed as an add-on a feature. It is a pervasive way of thinking. Those who forget to think in a secure mindset end up in trouble. But just because the facilities are there doesn’t mean that security is assured automatically. A set of standard practices has evolved over the years. The Secure® Coding® Standard for Java™ is a compendium of these practices. These are not theoretical research papers or product marketing blurbs. This is all serious, mission-critical, battle-tested, enterprise-scale stuff.” —James A. Gosling, Father of the Java Programming Language An essential element of secure coding in the Java programming language is a well-documented and enforceable coding standard. Coding standards encourage programmers to follow a uniform set of rules determined by the requirements of the project and organization, rather than by the programmer’s familiarity or preference. Once established, these standards can be used as a metric to evaluate source code (using manual or automated processes). The CERT® Oracle® Secure Coding Standard for Java™ provides rules designed to eliminate insecure coding practices that can lead to exploitable vulnerabilities. Application of the standard’s guidelines will lead to higher-quality systems–robust systems that are more resistant to attack. Such guidelines are required for the wide range of products coded in Java–for devices such as PCs, game players, mobile phones, home appliances, and automotive electronics. After a high-level introduction to Java application security, seventeen consistently organized chapters detail specific rules for key areas of Java development. For each area, the authors present noncompliant examples and corresponding compliant solutions, show how to assess risk, and offer references for further information. Each rule is prioritized based on the severity of consequences, likelihood of introducing exploitable vulnerabilities, and cost of remediation. The standard provides secure coding rules for the Java SE 6 Platform including the Java programming language and libraries, and also addresses new features of the Java SE 7 Platform. It describes language behaviors left to the discretion of JVM and compiler implementers, guides developers in the proper use of Java’s APIs and security architecture, and considers security concerns pertaining to standard extension APIs (from the javax package hierarchy).The standard covers security issues applicable to these libraries: lang, util, Collections, Concurrency Utilities, Logging, Management, Reflection, Regular Expressions, Zip, I/O, JMX, JNI, Math, Serialization, and JAXP.

Dean F. Sutherland

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