Comprehensive Evaluation of Open-Source Large Language Models on Software Vulnerability Detection, Assessment, Localization, and Description

מושגי ליבה

Large Language Models (LLMs) demonstrate varying capabilities in handling different software vulnerability tasks, including detection, assessment, localization, and description. While LLMs perform well in some aspects, they still need improvement in understanding the subtle differences in code vulnerabilities and the ability to describe vulnerabilities to fully realize their potential.

תקציר

The paper proposes a pipeline for quantitatively evaluating interactive LLMs using publicly available datasets. It carries out an extensive technical evaluation of LLMs using the Big-Vul dataset, covering four different common software vulnerability tasks: detection, assessment, localization, and description.
Key findings:
Vulnerability Detection:

Fine-tuned LLMs perform weaker than transformer-based methods, yet comparably to graph-based methods. LLMs in the few-shot setting show lower performance than existing methods.
After fine-tuning, the detection capability of LLMs has improved, except for Mistral. Larger models usually perform better, but performance can also be influenced by model design and pre-training data.
WizardCoder has the best vulnerability detection capability, while Mistral is the worst.

Vulnerability Assessment:
4. Larger model parameter counts did not enhance vulnerability assessment performance with LLMs, prioritize smaller parameter models for better cost-performance balance.
5. LLMs have a limited capacity for assessment of vulnerability severity based on source code only, but can be extremely improved if provided with more context information in most cases.
Vulnerability Localization:
6. Few-shot setting expose LLM limitations, but fine-tuning enhances capability.
7. Mistral's significant improvement after fine-tuning showcases its potential.
Vulnerability Description:
8. CodeLlama, StarCoder, WizardCoder, and Mistral excel at learning from historical description data.
The evaluation pipeline provides valuable insights for further enhancing LLMs' software vulnerability handling capabilities.

סטטיסטיקה

Multiple buffer overflows in net/wireless/nl80211.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.39.2 allow local users to gain privileges by leveraging the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability during scan operations with a long SSID value.
This vulnerability has existed since version 2.6.29-rc4 of the Linux kernel.

ציטוטים

"Multiple buffer overflows in net/wireless/nl80211.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.39.2 allow local users to gain privileges by leveraging the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability during scan operations with a long SSID value."
"This bug has existed since version 2.6.29-rc4 of the Linux kernel."

תובנות מפתח מזוקקות מ:

Multitask-based Evaluation of Open-Source LLM on Software Vulnerability

by Xin Yin,Chao... ב- arxiv.org 04-03-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.02056.pdf

שאלות מעמיקות

How can LLMs be further improved to better understand the subtle differences in code vulnerabilities and provide more accurate vulnerability descriptions?

To enhance LLMs' understanding of subtle code vulnerabilities and improve the accuracy of vulnerability descriptions, several strategies can be implemented:

Fine-tuning with domain-specific data: Fine-tuning LLMs with a larger and more diverse dataset of code vulnerabilities can help them capture the nuances and intricacies of different vulnerability types, leading to more accurate predictions.
Incorporating context information: Providing LLMs with additional context information such as CVE descriptions, project details, commit messages, and file names can significantly improve their ability to assess vulnerabilities accurately.
Utilizing multi-modal learning: Integrating multiple modalities like code snippets, natural language descriptions, and key information can enhance LLMs' comprehension of code vulnerabilities and enable them to generate more precise vulnerability descriptions.
Implementing interpretability techniques: Leveraging interpretability methods such as attention mechanisms and explainable AI approaches can help users understand how LLMs arrive at their vulnerability assessments, increasing trust and reliability.

What are the potential security implications of relying on LLMs for software vulnerability analysis, and how can these risks be mitigated?

Relying solely on LLMs for software vulnerability analysis poses several security implications:

Bias and errors: LLMs may exhibit biases or errors in their predictions, leading to incorrect vulnerability assessments and potentially overlooking critical security issues.
Adversarial attacks: LLMs are susceptible to adversarial attacks where malicious actors can manipulate input data to deceive the model into providing inaccurate vulnerability assessments.
Data privacy concerns: LLMs trained on sensitive code repositories may inadvertently expose confidential information or introduce security vulnerabilities if not properly secured.
To mitigate these risks, organizations can:
Implement human oversight: Incorporate human experts in the vulnerability analysis process to validate LLM outputs and ensure accurate assessments.
Regular model auditing: Conduct regular audits and evaluations of LLM performance to identify and address any biases, errors, or vulnerabilities in the model.
Data protection measures: Implement robust data privacy and security protocols to safeguard sensitive information used to train LLMs and prevent unauthorized access or misuse.

How can the insights from this evaluation of LLMs on software vulnerability tasks be applied to enhance their performance in other software engineering domains?

The insights gained from evaluating LLMs on software vulnerability tasks can be leveraged to improve their performance in other software engineering domains by:

Task-specific fine-tuning: Tailoring LLMs to specific software engineering tasks by fine-tuning them on domain-specific datasets can enhance their performance and accuracy in various domains.
Contextual information integration: Incorporating additional context information relevant to different software engineering tasks can help LLMs better understand and generate more precise outputs.
Multi-task learning: Implementing multi-task learning approaches where LLMs are trained on multiple related tasks simultaneously can improve their overall performance and versatility across different software engineering domains.
Continuous evaluation and feedback: Regularly evaluating LLM performance in diverse software engineering tasks and incorporating feedback to refine the models can lead to continuous improvement and optimization for various applications.