BF Impact
Irena Bojanova, Inventor/Creator, PI & Lead, NIST Bugs Framework (BF), 2014 – ~~~

The Bugs Framework (BF) comprises a systematic approach and methodologies for the classification of bugs and faults per orthogonal by operation execution phases, formal specification of weaknesses and vulnerabilities, definition of secure coding principles, generation of comprehensively labeled weakness and vulnerability datasets and vulnerability classifications, and development of BF-based algorithms and systems.

  • The BF weakness and failure taxonomies and bugs and vulnerability models form the basis for the BF ACFG that generates the BF formal language. The BF also helps formally define secure coding principles, such as input/output check safety, memory safety, and data type safety.

  • The BF formal language is descriptive in that it is used to formally specify encountered or predicted weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The BF secure coding principles are prescriptive in that they prevent the bugs and faults per operation that break specific related kinds of code safety.

  • The BF formalism supports a deeper understanding of vulnerabilities as chains of weaknesses and allows for backward bug identification from a failure. It enables the development of new static and dynamic analysis, simulation, and emulation algorithms. AI or formal methods-enabled capabilities could be used to identify bugs and detect, analyze, prioritize, and resolve or mitigate vulnerabilities (i.e., fix the bug or a fault of each vulnerability, respectively) to secure critical infrastructure and supply chains.

  • The weakness and vulnerability BF specification datasets augment the CWE, CVE, and NVD. However, the BF has the expressive power to clearly describe any other security weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It also allows for the prediction and identification of as yet unencountered security weakness types, which allows for the prediction and detection of new kinds of vulnerabilities.

The BF aims to become the new standard for the specification and labeling of security weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It enables the clear and precise expression of security bugs, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and failures.

  • Government institutions could improve the descriptions in public vulnerability repositories and create advanced policies and guidelines for software, firmware, and hardware testing.
  • Security companies could improve their testing tools and bug and vulnerability reports.
  • Academics could teach better about security bugs, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities and conduct deeper security vulnerability and failure research.

All of these would lead to unambiguous communication about cybersecurity, the increased precision of code review tools, and a decrease in security bugs, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities.

  • Produced by the BF Tools Set precise BF descriptions of software vulnerabilities as chains of bug-weaknesses-failure will allow clear communication among software developers, testers, IT professionals, and IT managers.

  • The NIST NVD entries will be available in machine readable formats that cyber security researchers can use for building code review tools and a broad spectrum of ML and AI systems for detection of software vulnerabilities and exploring complex malicious attacks. This will aid better software development/coding practices, mitigation designs, automated cyber testing capabilities, and will greatly advance our way of securing the cyberspace and the critical infrastructure.

  • The BF taxonomy will allow clear explanations of what happens in a vulnerability to IT professionals and non-IT executives, as well as researchers, developers, and students. It will support development of precise software testing tools with unambiguous reports.