The Java Development Kit (JDK) library's java.security package is one of the most important packages, yet despite consistent updates, it remains vastly underutilized. In light of the increased emphasis on cybersecurity frameworks, including zero trust, it's imperative for Java developers to become familiar with Java SE's security libraries. As with any other field in information technology, cybersecurity has a capricious nature. After all, it has to keep up with the latest trends in cybercrime.

Functional testing is a critical aspect of application development, and it plays an essential role in products being built within the Java ecosystem to ensure they meet their functional requirements and work as intended for the end user. As this method of testing is heavily based on validating “functionality” (i.e., “Does this application work the way we intend it to work?”), it is essential to utilize it throughout the development process.

Java is a powerful backend programming language that can also be used to write HTML pages for web applications. However, developers must know the potential security risks associated with Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks when creating these pages. With the rise of modern templating frameworks, preventing security attacks through proper input validation and encoding techniques has become easier.

We have found a new vulnerability in MySQL Connector/J (CVE-2023-21971). Oracle issued a critical path update that fixed the issue on April 18, 2023. The vulnerability was found as part of our collaboration with Google’s OSS-Fuzz.

Unit tests are indispensable to check and prove that our code functions properly. But in unit testing, we only test the scenarios that we are aware of. However, there are scenarios unknown to us that lead to security vulnerabilities or performance problems. To address these scenarios, you can add fuzz tests in order to effectively find security, reliability, and even logic bugs in your code.

Java is widely used for developing web applications and relies heavily on APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Therefore, API testing is a critical practice, as it ensures seamless functionality, compatibility, security, and performance while facilitating integration and simplifying debugging.

As part of our efforts to improve the security of open-source software, we continuously test open-source projects with our JVM fuzzing engine Jazzer in Google’s OSS-Fuzz. One of our tests yielded a Denial of Service vulnerability in the Spring Framework (CVE-2023-20861). Spring is one of the most widely used frameworks for developing web applications in Java. As a result, vulnerabilities have an amplified impact on all applications that rely on the vulnerable version.