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SQ14132

Detected Windows executable files that do not implement Intel CET vulnerability mitigation protection.

priorityCI/CD statusseverityeffortSAFE levelSAFE assessment
NonepassmediummediumNonehardening: pass
Reason: modern mitigations missing

About the issue​

Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) protects the code flow integrity by ensuring that indirect calls are made only to vetted functions, and that the functions return only to their respective callers. This mitigation protects dynamically resolved function targets by instrumenting the code responsible for transferring execution control. It is implemented at the hardware level, but the applications need to opt in. Special processor instructions are implemented to track indirect branch execution, while the function returns are verified through the use of a shadow stack. Any deviation from the known and trusted code flow paths will cause the application to terminate. This makes malicious code less likely to execute.

How to resolve the issue​

  • It's highly recommended to enable this option for all software components used at security boundaries, or those that process user controlled inputs.
  • To enable this mitigation, refer to your programming language toolchain documentation.
  • In Microsoft VisualStudio, you can enable CET mitigation by passing the /CETCOMPAT parameter to the linker.

Incidence statistics​

ReversingLabs periodically collects and analyzes the contents of popular software package repositories for threat research purposes. Analysis results are used to calculate incidence statistics for issues (policy violations) that Spectra Assure can detect in software packages.

This section is updated when new data becomes available.

Total amount of packages analyzed

  • RubyGems: 183K
  • Nuget: 644K
  • PyPi: 628K
  • NPM: 3.72M
Statistics are not collected for the SQ14132 policy at this time, or not applicable to this type of issue.