Course

The Code Review Patch lab is designed to enhance your skills in identifying vulnerabilities within a codebase by providing you with both the original vulnerable code and the corresponding patch. Your primary task is to analyze the code to find the vulnerabilities without relying on the patch, simulating a real-world code review scenario. If you encounter difficulties or want to verify your findings, you can refer to the provided patch (the diff file) to see what changes were made to fix the issue.

In this specific lab, the code provided is from the SAMLUtils.java file, part of the Apache CloudStack project. You will examine various methods that handle SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) requests and responses. The patch includes critical security improvements, such as safer XML parsing to prevent XML External Entity (XXE) attacks. By comparing the original code with the patched version, you'll gain insights into secure coding practices and understand how to mitigate common vulnerabilities.