Just recently, our open-source fuzzing engine Jazzer found an Expression DoS vulnerability in Spring (CVE-2023-20861). Now, three weeks later, Jazzer found another similar Expression DoS in the Spring framework, labeled CVE-2023-20863. This new finding has an even higher CVSS score of 7.5 (high), compared to the previous finding which came in at 5.3 (medium).

Fuzz testing is a popular testing approach used to find bugs in C/C++ and embedded software, particularly memory corruptions. It has proven effective for identifying obscure bugs that are difficult to find through other testing methods. This testing approach is increasingly being adopted by automotive companies to comply with new security standards, save time, mitigate costs, and improve software quality. Let's have a look at how fuzzing is helping all of these automotive companies.

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.