Static analysis for discovery of timing attack vulnerabilities in a computer software application

A system for discovering timing attack vulnerabilities in a computer software application, the system comprising:

• a static analyzer configured to statically analyze instructions of a computer software application to identify a plurality of possible execution paths traversing any of the instructions;
• a cost calculator configured to calculate, for each of the possible execution paths, a cost associated with the execution of the instructions traversed by the possible execution path;
• a cost comparator configured to compare the costs of at least two of the possible execution paths having inputs of the same size;
• and
• a vulnerability identifier configured to identify as a timing attack vulnerability any of the compared possible execution paths whose cost differs, by at least a predetermined amount, from the cost of any other of the compared possible execution paths.

A computer program product for discovering timing attack vulnerabilities in a computer software application, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer-readable storage medium;
• and
• computer-readable program code embodied in the computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable program code is configured to
• statically analyze instructions of a computer software application to identify a plurality of possible execution paths traversing any of the instructions,
• calculate, for each of the possible execution paths, a cost associated with the execution of the instructions traversed by the possible execution path,
• compare the costs of at least two of the possible execution paths having inputs of the same size, and
• identify as a timing attack vulnerability any of the compared possible execution paths whose cost differs, by at least a predetermined amount, from the cost of any other of the compared possible execution paths.