New open source Node.js bug hunting tool shows promise

Newly developed Node.js vulnerability hunting tool ODGEN, which is based on the new Object Dependence Graph structure inspired by Code Property Graph, has been able to determine 180 security flaws within the Node.js environment used for network application creation, SecurityWeek reports. Six different vulnerability types were identified by ODGEN, prompting the discovery of 137 package-level and 43 application-level zero-days with 84 and 14 false positives, respectively, with 70 already being given Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures identifiers, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Renmin University of China who developed the new tool. The study noted that JavaScript objects are being modeled by ODG as nodes, while Abstract Syntax tree connections are interpreted as edges. "Specifically, ODG includes fine-grained data dependencies between objects, thus helping taint-style vulnerability detection such as command injection," said researchers, who added that the novel approach could enable usage of ODG for offline Node.js vulnerability detection.