Description

Detects the use of insecure HTTP URLs in Spring Framework's RestTemplate methods. Using unencrypted HTTP instead of HTTPS for web requests can expose sensitive data to man-in-the-middle attacks and network eavesdropping, potentially compromising data confidentiality and integrity.

Detection Strategy

• 1. Checks if Spring Web Client library (org.springframework.web.client) is imported in the code

• 2. Identifies calls to RestTemplate methods like getForObject, postForEntity, exchange, etc.

• 3. Examines if the first argument of these methods contains an HTTP URL (not HTTPS)

• 4. Verifies that the method is called on a RestTemplate object

• 5. Reports a vulnerability when HTTP URLs are used with RestTemplate methods instead of secure HTTPS URLs

Vulnerable code example

import org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate;

public class VulnerableExample {
    public void unsafeRestCalls() {
        RestTemplate restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
        
        // Vulnerable: Using unencrypted HTTP protocol for REST calls
        restTemplate.delete("http://example.com");...

✅ Secure code example

import org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate;

public class SecureExample {
    public void safeRestCalls() {
        RestTemplate restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
        
        // Safe: Using encrypted HTTPS protocol for REST calls
        restTemplate.delete("https://example.com");...