False positive for IncompleteHostnameRegExp in Ruby
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- CodeQL
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Description
**Description of the false positive**
There's a problem with the current implementation of `IncompleteHostnameRegExp` for Ruby. Specifically, it seems that the rule with report false positives for any `X.match(Y)` method call where `Y` is a `String` and `X` is any object with a `match` method.
The rule incorrectly "thinks" that `Y` is a regex being used for matching, likely because in Ruby's `String` class has a `match` method which takes a `String` parameter for defining the regex:
https://ruby-doc.org/3.2.2/String.html#method-i-match
In other words, the rule doesn't check that `X` is a known type for which the `match` method accepts a string argument which is used as a regex, and instead matches on any type for `X`.
**Code samples or links to source code**
Please see https://github.com/github/codeql/pull/13748 which includes a failing test which demonstrates the problem.
**URL to the alert on GitHub code scanning (optional)**
Can't share it since it's in a private repository 😬
Contributor guide
Research direction
Read the IncompleteHostnameRegExp implementation and the failing Ruby test referenced in pull request #13748. Reproduce the X.match(Y) case described in the issue, then verify that the rule no longer reports a false positive for unsupported receiver types while preserving the intended detection.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- ruby
- Domain
- security
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 42/100