Description

The detector identifies Java code that creates insecure HTTP connections instead of HTTPS. Using plain HTTP for network communications exposes the application to man-in-the-middle attacks where attackers can intercept and modify the transmitted data. This represents a significant security risk as sensitive information could be exposed or tampered with during transmission.

Detection Strategy

• Identifies calls to URL/URI builder methods that use HTTP URLs

• Detects usage of 'newBuilder()' method when the argument contains an HTTP URL

• Checks for 'uri()' method calls where the URI parameter uses an insecure HTTP scheme

• Analyzes string arguments and variables passed to these methods to confirm they contain 'http://' URLs

Vulnerable code example

import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse.BodyHandlers;
import java.net.URI;

public class VulnerableHttpExample {
    public void sendRequest() {
        HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();...

✅ Secure code example

import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse.BodyHandlers;
import java.net.URI;
import java.time.Duration;

public class SecureHttpExample {
    public void sendRequest() {...