Course

The Code Review Patch challenges are designed to enhance your skills in identifying and understanding vulnerabilities in code by providing both the original vulnerable code and its patch. You are encouraged to first examine the code independently to spot the issues, as this practice improves your ability to perform real-world code reviews. Once you have made an attempt, or if you find yourself stuck, you can review the patch to see the exact changes made to address the vulnerability. This method not only helps you recognize common coding mistakes but also familiarizes you with effective remediation techniques.

In this specific challenge, you are provided with a vulnerability in the `SSLProtocolSocketFactory.java` file from the Apache Commons HttpClient library and its patch. The patch introduces several security enhancements, including hostname verification to prevent Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attacks. The added code ensures that the SSL certificate presented by the server matches the expected hostname, thereby mitigating potential security risks associated with unchecked certificates.