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Coverity
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Coverity is a proprietary static code analysis tool from Black Duck, Inc.[1] This product enables engineers and security teams to find and fix software defects.
Key Information
Coverity started as an independent software company in 2002 at the Computer Systems Laboratory at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. It was founded by Benjamin Chelf, Andy Chou, David Park, and Seth Hallem with Stanford professor Dawson Engler as a technical adviser. The headquarters was moved to San Francisco. In June 2008, Coverity acquired Solidware Technologies.[2] In February 2014, Coverity announced an agreement to be acquired by Synopsys, an electronic design automation company, for $375M in cash.[3]
Products
[edit]Coverity is a static code analysis tool for C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, .NET, ASP.NET, Objective-C, Go, JSP, Ruby, Swift, Fortran, Scala, VB.NET, and TypeScript. It also supports more than 70 different frameworks for Java, JavaScript, C# and other languages.[4]
Coverity Scan is a free static-analysis cloud-based service for the open source community.
Applications
[edit]Under a United States Department of Homeland Security contract in 2006, the tool was used to examine over 150 open source applications for bugs; 6000 bugs found by the scan were fixed across 53 projects.[5]
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration used the tool in its 2010-2011 investigation into reports of sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.[6][7] The tool was used by CERN on the software employed in the Large Hadron Collider[8][9] and in the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the flight software development of the Mars rover Curiosity.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ "Introducing Black Duck Software: The Leader in Application Security Has a New Name". PR Newswire. 2025-05-27. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ^ Krill, Paul (2008-06-30). "Coverity buys Solidware to boost code analysis". Infoworld.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
- ^ "Synopsys Enters Software Quality and Security Market with Coverity Acquisition". PR Newswire. 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
- ^ "Coverity Languages and Frameworks". blackduck.com. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
- ^ ["LAMP lights the way in open-source security : News : Security - ZDNet Asia". Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved May 4, 2006."LAMP lights the way in open-source security"] – ZDNet
- ^ "U.S. Used Key Tools to Examine Toyota Acceleration-Related Software" Archived 2013-05-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Technical Support to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the Reported Toyota Motor Corporation Unintended Acceleration Investigation" Archived 2011-02-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "CERN Chooses Coverity to Ensure Accuracy of Large Hadron Collider Software"
- ^ "Improving Scientific Research: CERN and Coverity Static Analysis"
- ^ "Coverity: Mars Rover Curiosity's 'Space Doctors' On Bug Hunting In Space"
Coverity
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Coverity is a proprietary static code analysis tool that performs scalable static application security testing (SAST) to detect software defects, security vulnerabilities, and quality issues in source code across enterprise-scale codebases.[1] It supports analysis in 22 programming languages, over 200 frameworks, and infrastructure-as-code platforms, enabling developers and security teams to identify complex issues early in the development lifecycle while ensuring compliance with industry standards such as CWE and MISRA.[1]
Coverity originated from academic research on static bug-finding techniques at Stanford University and was commercialized in 2002 by a startup focused on analyzing large software systems for generic errors like memory corruption and data races.[2] The tool gained widespread adoption through Coverity Scan, a free service for open-source projects launched in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which by 2009 had analyzed approximately 60 million lines of code from over 280 open source projects.[3] In 2014, Coverity was acquired by Synopsys Inc. for approximately $375 million, integrating it into Synopsys' software integrity portfolio to enhance code quality and security testing for semiconductor and systems design.[4]
As of October 2024, Coverity became part of Black Duck Software following the $2.1 billion acquisition of Synopsys' Software Integrity Group by Clearlake Capital Group and Francisco Partners, rebranding the business as an independent entity dedicated to application security solutions.[5] Key features include high-accuracy, flow-sensitive analysis that minimizes false positives, automation via integrations with IDEs, SCM systems, and CI/CD pipelines, and the ability to handle massive codebases without requiring build modifications.[1] Widely used in industries like aerospace, automotive, and finance, Coverity has analyzed billions of lines of code, reducing project risks and accelerating secure software delivery.[2]
History
Founding and Early Development
Coverity was founded on November 8, 2002, in San Francisco by Stanford University researchers Benjamin Chelf, Andy Chou, David Park, and Seth Hallem, with technical guidance from professor Dawson Engler. The company's origins trace back to DARPA-funded research at Stanford's Computer Systems Laboratory between 1999 and 2002, which developed advanced static analysis methods to detect bugs and rule violations in C and C++ code.[6][7] From its inception, Coverity focused on scalable static analysis for large, complex codebases, enabling the detection of defects such as memory leaks and null pointer dereferences without requiring extensive manual configuration. This approach was particularly suited to mission-critical software, with early adoption by NASA to analyze flight software for the Curiosity rover as part of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, where it helped identify issues in millions of lines of code.[8][9] Operating initially as Coverity Inc. with bootstrapped funding, the company prioritized commercializing these academic innovations for enterprise-scale applications, analyzing billions of lines of code across industries by the late 2000s. A pivotal early partnership formed in 2006 with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, launching a public-private initiative to scan over 150 open-source projects—totaling more than 40 million lines of code—and identify around 6,000 defects, many of which were subsequently fixed to bolster security.[7][10]Acquisitions and Ownership Changes
In March 2014, Synopsys, Inc. acquired Coverity for approximately $375 million, or $350 million net of cash acquired, marking the company's entry into the software quality and security market and integrating Coverity's static code analysis tools into Synopsys' broader software integrity portfolio.[4][11] This acquisition enabled enhanced collaboration between Coverity's engineering team and Synopsys' resources, leading to improvements in the Coverity platform's static application security testing capabilities, such as better defect detection and security vulnerability identification for mission-critical software.[12] The move positioned Coverity to leverage Synopsys' expertise in semiconductor and systems design, expanding its reach in complex software environments.[13] In December 2017, Synopsys further strengthened its software integrity offerings by acquiring Black Duck Software for approximately $547 million net of cash acquired, which specialized in open source security and management solutions.[14] This transaction complemented Coverity's static analysis engine by incorporating Black Duck's tools for scanning and managing open source components, thereby broadening Coverity's applicability to software supply chains that increasingly rely on third-party code.[15] The integration facilitated a more comprehensive product roadmap, allowing Coverity users to address both proprietary and open source risks within a unified platform.[16] In May 2024, Synopsys announced an agreement to sell its entire Software Integrity Group—which included Coverity and Black Duck—to private equity firms Clearlake Capital Group and Francisco Partners in a transaction valued at up to $2.1 billion, subject to performance-based earn-outs.[17] Following the completion of the deal on October 1, 2024, the group was rebranded as Black Duck Software, Inc., operating as an independent entity focused on application security solutions.[5] This ownership change allowed Black Duck Software to pursue an accelerated roadmap tailored to evolving application security needs, with Coverity continuing as a core static analysis offering under the new structure.[18]Technology
Core Static Analysis Engine
The Core Static Analysis Engine of Coverity is a proprietary system that employs abstract interpretation and dataflow analysis to examine source code without executing it, enabling the detection of defects across multiple programming languages including C/C++, Java, C#, JavaScript, Python, and Ruby.[19][20][21] Abstract interpretation models program states through an abstract store that maps variables to abstract values, while dataflow analysis tracks state transitions along execution paths, incorporating flow-sensitive properties, path pruning for infeasible routes, and state merging to handle loops.[21][20] This architecture processes code by parsing, type-checking, and constructing abstract syntax trees, followed by interprocedural analysis that links translation units and instantiates templates for comprehensive coverage.[20] Designed for enterprise-scale deployments, the engine scales to analyze millions or even billions of lines of code in large codebases, as demonstrated by its application to over a billion lines across hundreds of customers and scans of open-source projects exceeding 450 million lines.[22][23] It achieves low false positive rates—typically below 20%—through context-sensitive techniques that consider calling contexts, variable scopes, and execution paths to refine defect predictions and reduce noise.[2][24] The engine integrates build capture mechanisms, such as the cov-build tool, to intercept and record compilation commands and intermediate representations during the build process, ensuring accurate modeling of dependencies and configurations without altering the original build environment.[25] Modeling techniques simulate code behavior using abstract domains tailored to specific properties, such as tracking resource states (e.g., file handles) or pointer values, to identify defects including memory leaks, null pointer dereferences, and resource mismanagement.[21][26] Originating from DARPA-funded research at Stanford University in the late 1990s, where a prototype analyzed the Linux kernel and uncovered thousands of defects, the engine has evolved into a hybrid approach combining abstract interpretation with path-sensitive traversals and formal verification elements for enhanced precision in modern software ecosystems.[27][26][20]Detection Methods and Algorithms
Coverity utilizes path-sensitive analysis to precisely track the states of variables and data flows across multiple execution paths in a program, enabling the detection of defects that may only manifest under specific conditions. This approach involves constructing an exploded graph, where each node represents a symbolic program state, allowing the tool to explore feasible paths while pruning infeasible ones to mitigate the path explosion problem inherent in exhaustive analysis. By modeling program behavior symbolically, Coverity simulates execution without concrete inputs, computing constraints on variables to identify anomalies such as null pointer dereferences or buffer overflows along relevant paths.[24] The tool's detection capabilities are organized around a taxonomy of over 20 checker categories, each targeting distinct classes of software defects and mapping to Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) identifiers for standardized vulnerability classification. Key categories include memory corruption (e.g., use-after-free, CWE-416), resource leaks (e.g., unclosed files or sockets, CWE-404), concurrency issues (e.g., race conditions and deadlocks, CWE-362), and security vulnerabilities (e.g., SQL injection or cross-site scripting, CWE-89 and CWE-79). Additional categories cover API misuse, integer overflows, null dereferences, and build-related errors, with hundreds of individual checkers operating cooperatively to build the exploded graph and enforce category-specific rules. This structured taxonomy ensures comprehensive coverage of critical defect types while facilitating targeted remediation efforts.[28][29][30] To minimize false positives, Coverity incorporates triage rules that leverage developer annotations and contextual heuristics during analysis, achieving rates below 20% for mature checkers through techniques like false path elimination and statistical inference on coding patterns. This evolution enhances precision by focusing on high-confidence defects, such as interprocedural interactions where function calls propagate tainted data across modules. Interprocedural analysis further refines detection by generating context-sensitive summaries of function behaviors, enabling accurate modeling of complex dependencies without full re-analysis of callers.[31][24]Products and Services
Coverity Analysis
Coverity Analysis is the flagship commercial static application security testing (SAST) tool developed by Coverity, now part of Black Duck Software, designed for enterprises to detect defects and vulnerabilities in proprietary codebases. It enables organizations to perform deep, accurate analysis on complex software projects, supporting scalable deployment for secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) integration.[1][32] The tool offers flexible deployment options, including on-premises installations for data sovereignty and cloud-based Scan Service for elastic scaling, allowing seamless incorporation into CI/CD pipelines for automated analysis of closed-source code.[33][34] Integration typically involves configuring jobs to run during build and test phases, with options for incremental analysis to avoid blocking pipelines or comprehensive scans for thorough checks.[33] Setup and usage follow a structured workflow: developers or CI systems first capture the build using thecov-build command, which intercepts compiler invocations to record code structure and data flow without altering the original build process, followed by execution of cov-analyze to apply checkers and generate defect reports. This process supports over 20 programming languages, including C/C++, Java, Python, and JavaScript, along with more than 200 frameworks and infrastructure-as-code platforms, ensuring broad applicability across enterprise environments.[35][1][36]
Licensing for Coverity Analysis operates on a lines-of-code (LOC) model, where usage is restricted by the aggregate number of lines in the analyzed codebase, providing scalability for large projects while including enterprise-grade features such as policy enforcement to mandate coding standards and compliance tracking across development teams.[37][38]
Following its acquisition by Clearlake Capital Group and Francisco Partners in late 2024 and subsequent rebranding as Black Duck Software, Coverity Analysis has seen updates enhancing DevSecOps capabilities, including default activation of security checkers in the CLI for faster pipeline integration and improved support via the Black Duck Bridge CLI for embedding full analysis into automated workflows.[39][40][41][42] This contrasts with the free Coverity Scan service, which targets open-source projects without enterprise policy controls.[43]