Use of a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm — CodeQL query help documentation CodeQL docs

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Use of a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm¶

ID: java/weak-cryptographic-algorithm
Kind: path-problem
Security severity: 7.5
Severity: warning
Precision: high
Tags:
   - security
   - external/cwe/cwe-327
   - external/cwe/cwe-328
Query suites:
   - java-code-scanning.qls
   - java-security-extended.qls
   - java-security-and-quality.qls

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Using broken or weak cryptographic algorithms may compromise security guarantees such as confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity.

Many cryptographic algorithms are known to be weak or flawed. The security guarantees of a system often rely on the underlying cryptography, so using a weak algorithm can have severe consequences. For example:

If a weak encryption algorithm is used, an attacker may be able to decrypt sensitive data.
If a weak hashing algorithm is used to protect data integrity, an attacker may be able to craft a malicious input that has the same hash as a benign one.
If a weak algorithm is used for digital signatures, an attacker may be able to forge signatures and impersonate legitimate users.

Recommendation¶

Ensure that you use a strong, modern cryptographic algorithm. Use at least AES-128 or RSA-2048. Do not use the ECB encryption mode since it is vulnerable to replay and other attacks.

Example¶

The following code shows an example of using a java Cipher to encrypt some data. When creating a Cipher instance, you must specify the encryption algorithm to use. The first example uses DES, which is an older algorithm that is now considered weak. The second example uses AES, which is a strong modern algorithm.

// BAD: DES is a weak algorithm 
Cipher des = Cipher.getInstance("DES");
cipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, secretKeySpec);

byte[] encrypted = cipher.doFinal(input.getBytes("UTF-8"));

// ...

// GOOD: AES is a strong algorithm
Cipher aes = Cipher.getInstance("AES");

// ...

References¶

NIST, FIPS 140 Annex a: Approved Security Functions.
NIST, SP 800-131A: Transitions: Recommendation for Transitioning the Use of Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Lengths.
Common Weakness Enumeration: CWE-327.
Common Weakness Enumeration: CWE-328.

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