This post contains a number of statements that mislead the reader into believing that we are overreacting to memory safety bugs. For example:
> An oft-quoted number is that “70%” of programming language-caused CVEs (reported security vulnerabilities) in C and C++ code are due to language safety problems... That 70% is of the subset of security CVEs that can be addressed by programming language safety
I can’t figure out what the author means by “programming language-caused CVE”. No analysis defines a “programming language-caused CVE”. They just look at CVEs and look at CWEs. The author invented this term but did not define it.
I can’t figure out what the author means by “of the subset of security CVEs that can be addressed by programming language safety”. First, aren’t all CVEs security CVEs? Why qualify the statement? Second, the very post the author cites ([1]) states:
> If you have a very large (millions of lines of code) codebase, written in a memory-unsafe programming language (such as C or C++), you can expect at least 65% of your security vulnerabilities to be caused by memory unsafety.
The figure is unqualified. But the author adds multiple qualifications. Why?
[1] https://alexgaynor.net/2020/may/27/science-on-memory-unsafet...
> An oft-quoted number is that “70%” of programming language-caused CVEs (reported security vulnerabilities) in C and C++ code are due to language safety problems... That 70% is of the subset of security CVEs that can be addressed by programming language safety
I can’t figure out what the author means by “programming language-caused CVE”. No analysis defines a “programming language-caused CVE”. They just look at CVEs and look at CWEs. The author invented this term but did not define it.
I can’t figure out what the author means by “of the subset of security CVEs that can be addressed by programming language safety”. First, aren’t all CVEs security CVEs? Why qualify the statement? Second, the very post the author cites ([1]) states:
> If you have a very large (millions of lines of code) codebase, written in a memory-unsafe programming language (such as C or C++), you can expect at least 65% of your security vulnerabilities to be caused by memory unsafety.
The figure is unqualified. But the author adds multiple qualifications. Why?
[1] https://alexgaynor.net/2020/may/27/science-on-memory-unsafet...