Description

Detects the use of short authentication tags (less than 96 bits) in GCM (Galois/Counter Mode) encryption in Scala applications. Short authentication tags significantly weaken the cryptographic security by making it easier for attackers to forge authenticated ciphertext, potentially leading to data tampering and unauthorized access.

Detection Strategy

• Scans Scala source code files that import javax.crypto library for cryptographic operations

• Identifies calls to encryption initialization methods that configure GCM cipher specifications

• Extracts and analyzes the cipher specification parameter to determine the authentication tag length

• Reports a vulnerability when the GCM authentication tag is configured to be shorter than the recommended 96-bit minimum length

• Focuses on cipher initialization points where developers explicitly set authentication tag parameters that compromise security

Vulnerable code example

import javax.crypto.Cipher
import javax.crypto.spec.GCMParameterSpec
import javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec

object VulnerableGCM {
  def encrypt(keySpec: SecretKeySpec, data: Array[Byte]): Array[Byte] = {
    val iv = new Array[Byte](12)
    ...

✅ Secure code example

import java.security.SecureRandom
import javax.crypto.Cipher
import javax.crypto.spec.GCMParameterSpec
import javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec

object SecureGCM {
  def encrypt(keySpec: SecretKeySpec, data: Array[Byte]): Array[Byte] = {
    val iv = new Array[Byte](12)...