Guided method to detect software vulnerabilities

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a processing element perform a method, the method comprising:

• receiving a computer program comprising regions of code, each region of code including at least one function;
• pruning a search space of the received computer program by:
• applying a high-level model recognizing potential software vulnerabilities to the computer program to determine a region of the code of the regions of code that includes a potential software vulnerability;
• performing a localized static analysis on the region of the code that includes the potential software vulnerability to determine a local condition that causes the potential software vulnerability to be expressed in the computer program;
• and
• generating a report comprising:
• the region of the code that includes the potential software vulnerability, including a location of the region of the code within the computer program, and
• the local condition that causes the potential software vulnerability to be expressed in the computer program.