Software systems can be validated as conforming to the CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java. Source code analysis tools, including compilers and static analysis tools, can be certified as able to validate source code as conforming to this coding standard.
Normative vs. Non-normative Text
Portions of this coding standard are intended to be normative and ; other portions are intended as good advice. The normative statements in these guideline are the requirements for conformance with the standard. Normative statements use imperative language, for example, "must," "shall," and "require.," etc. Normative portions of each guideline must be analyzable, although automated analysis is infeasible for some guidelines.
The non-normative portions of a guideline are those where we describe good practice or useful advice. Non-normative statements do not establish conformance requirements. Non-normative statements use verbs such as "should," or phrases such as "we recommend" or "Good practice is to...". Non-normative portions of guidelines may be inappropriate for automated checking, because they such checking would likely report excessive false positives when applied to existing code. Automated checkers for these non-normative portions might be useful when analyzing "new" code which that has specifically been developed to this coding standard.
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Although uncommon, some guidelines that are entirely non-normative. The following guidelines, for example, are entirely non-normative:
- NUM10NUM52-J. Be aware of numeric promotion behavior
- EXP12EXP55-J. Use the same type for the second and third operands in conditional expressions
Source Code Conformance
Conformance to The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java can be used as as security indicator or metric. While conformance does not guarantee the absence of vulnerabilities (for example, vulnerabilities resulting from design flaws), it does guarantee the absence of coding errors that are commonly found to be the root causes of vulnerabilities.
The easiest way to validate code as conforming to The CERT Oracle Secure Coding standard for Java is to use a validated source code analysis tool.
Levels
Guidelines in this standard are classified into three levels (see Rec.: Priority and Levels). Emphasis should be placed on conformance Level 1 (L1) guidelines. Software systems that have been validated as complying with all Level 1 guidelines are considered to be L1 Conforming. Software systems can be assessed as L1, L2, or fully conforming depending on the set of guideline to which the system has been validated.
Deviation Procedure
Strict adherence to all guidelines is unlikely. Consequently, deviations associated with individual situations are permissible.
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