feat(model): an access-control finding names a line, and what the PDG does not give us

contributor-scan 2.7. Taint and config verdicts have always carried a
`path:line:function` location; dominance never did, so every
access-control finding reached a contributor as
`api_views/users.py:?:update_password` -- the right file by accident,
because the region was asked about that file, and no line at all. The
query now reports the operation's file and the verdict carries the
location, with an engine that cannot report one getting no location rather
than an invented one.

Two questions answered by measurement while doing it.

**Does this factor in the PDG?** The data half, centrally: `reachableByFlows`
is the entire taint arbiter and `joern-parse` applies the `dataflowOss`
overlay. The control half, not at all -- and it is not available to us.
Measured: 0 of 13,184 calls in the libpng CPG and 0 of 1,152 in the vampi
CPG have a controlling control structure, so `controlledBy` returns nothing
in either. Everything guard-shaped therefore runs on CFG dominance or on
syntactic conditions, which is exactly why 2.12's first attempt failed:
libpng's bound reaches its sink through an `error` flag, and that is a
control-dependence fact and nothing else. Recorded as 2.14, including the
possibility that it cannot be enabled -- which would bound what guard
reasoning this engine can ever do.

**Would checking out a vulnerable libpng find a known CVE?** No, and not
because of the version. Every one of the twelve files using
`strcpy`/`strcat`/`sprintf`/`gets` is under `contrib/`; the library itself
uses none of them. libpng overflows through array and pointer arithmetic
and `memcpy` sizing, and five of its buffer-overflow fixes touch no
modelled sink at all. Pinning an older commit would produce the same
silence for the same reason.

That leaves two routes of very different size, recorded as 2.15: pin a C
project whose CVE genuinely runs through a string function, which is cheap
and would give the memory family its first true positive; or model how C
actually overflows, which is size arithmetic rather than sink matching and
should not be started by accident.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <[email protected]>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T7XD7x5KonMdmGRkp63EQG
This commit is contained in:
Marius Ciepluch
2026-09-09 13:09:47 +02:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 9221ba8e40
commit c1191b3a6b
4 changed files with 104 additions and 4 deletions
+33 -1
View File
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@
- _Requirements: 8.1, 8.2_
- _Depends: 2.2_
- [ ] 2.7 A dominance witness that names its line
- [x] 2.7 A dominance witness that names its line
- Access-control sites read `api_views/users.py:?:update_password`. Taint and config witnesses carry
`(line N)`; dominance does not, so its findings have no line and a contributor cannot open them.
- Observable: every entailed finding in a repository scan has an integer line.
@@ -249,6 +249,38 @@
- _Requirements: 8.1, 8.2_
- _Depends: 2.12, 5.3_
- [ ] 2.14 Control dependence is not populated, and two arbiters want it
- Measured, not assumed: **0 of 13,184 calls in the libpng CPG and 0 of 1,152 in the vampi CPG have a
controlling control structure.** `controlledBy` returns nothing in either, so the PDG's control half is
simply absent from the graphs we build. The data half is present and load-bearing -- `reachableByFlows`
is the whole taint arbiter, and `joern-parse` reports `dataflowOss` applied.
- Everything guard-shaped we do therefore uses CFG dominance (`dominatedBy`) or syntactic conditions
(`method.controlStructure.condition`) instead. That is why 2.12's first attempt failed: libpng's bound
reaches its sink through an `error` flag, which is a control-dependence fact and nothing else.
- Find out whether a CDG overlay can be enabled on `joern-parse` or in the script, what it costs on the
envelope checkout, and whether it makes the flag-mediated guard decidable. If it cannot be enabled,
record that -- it bounds what guard reasoning this engine can ever do.
- Observable: a recorded answer with the build-time and query-time cost, and wpng.c:374 decided or a
stated reason it cannot be.
- _Requirements: 4.2, 8.1_
- _Depends: 2.12_
- [ ] 2.15 A C checkout whose CVE goes through a sink we model
- libpng cannot demonstrate a C true positive, and pinning an older vulnerable commit would not change
that. **Every one of the twelve files using `strcpy`/`strcat`/`sprintf`/`gets` is under `contrib/`; the
library itself uses none of them.** Its overflows are array and pointer arithmetic and `memcpy` sizing,
and five buffer-overflow fixes checked (`png_set_quantize`, `png_image_finish_read`,
`png_init_read_transformations`, `png_do_quantize`, `png_write_image_8bit`) touch no modelled sink at
all.
- So there are two ways forward and they are different sizes. Pin a C project whose CVE genuinely runs
through a string function -- cheap, and it gives the memory family its first true positive. Or model how
C actually overflows: a `memcpy` whose size is computed, an index that is not bounded. That is size
arithmetic rather than sink matching, a different abstraction, and it should not be started by accident.
- Observable: a pinned checkout with an in-scope CVE found at a rung, or a recorded decision that the
memory family needs the second abstraction before any C detection claim is made.
- _Requirements: 4.1, 4.4_
- _Depends: 2.12_
## Group 3 — Ship it
- [ ] 3.1 Contributor output