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For nearly 30 years, Java has played a pivotal role in enterprise computing, standing out as one of the most widely used programming languages. The diverse OpenJDK developer community has been instrumental in steering Java’s evolution to adapt to rapidly changing IT landscapes.

Throughout those 3 decades, the Java platform has long served as a bedrock for creating powerful applications. However, this robust ecosystem is not without its vulnerabilities. Unpatched weaknesses in third-party libraries and components pose a significant risk, creating potential entry points for malicious actors, particularly for organisations entrenched in Java infrastructures.

As cloud deployments continue to burgeon and applications sprawl across various systems, real-time visibility into software vulnerabilities becomes paramount. Recognising this, Azul has unveiled the Azul Vulnerability Detection service, an offering that allows continuous monitoring of Java applications in production for known vulnerabilities, presenting a strategic response to the evolving challenges in the IT landscape.

Azul’s Comprehensive Vulnerability Detection Service

Identifying vulnerabilities during production is increasingly vital for businesses. Azul’s Vulnerability Detection service, operating without agents in the cloud, consistently identifies recognised vulnerabilities in production. This addresses a crucial void in enterprises’ strategies for securing their software supply chains.

But what exactly is Azul Vulnerability Detection? Simply put, it connects previously independent Azul Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) to enable autonomy while conducting real-time runtime and application security analysis. This innovative tool, functioning at production speed, acts as a software composition analyser, helping security teams understand the loading patterns of vulnerable code.

Within the JVM, Azul’s Vulnerability Detection acts as a swift software composition analyser, utilising the JVM to store information on loaded code. Retrospectively analysing, this tool identifies instances where new vulnerabilities are utilised or present.

When Java applications are integrated with vulnerability detection launch, the JVM operates at full capacity. An asynchronous collector maintains continuous communication with Azul Vulnerability Detection, ensuring seamless data flow. This collected data becomes instrumental in detecting various packaging types, including standard JAR files, shaded JARs, flattened JARs, and more.

The uniqueness of this approach lies in the fact that the collector operates directly within the JVM, ensuring optimal speed and efficiency. Importantly, it does not rely solely on instrumentation, thereby retaining independence to collect data even in scenarios where the java. instrument module has been removed.

Now, what else can Azul’s innovative solution do? The Azul Vulnerability Detection solution delivers the following benefits:

• Runs in Production:
  Azul’s service continually assesses both custom and commercial applications for vulnerabilities in production, without the need for source code. It compares code execution to the Java-specific CVE database in the cloud.

• Eliminates False Positives:
  The service focuses on human remediation efforts where vulnerable code is actively used, eliminating false positives by monitoring code executed by the Java runtime (JVM). This results in accurate and actionable results, surpassing traditional tools.
• No Performance Penalty:
  Azul’s solution leverages monitoring and detection built into Azul JVMs, eliminating the performance penalty associated with other application security tools. As an agentless solution, it also minimises the management overhead of maintaining separate agents.

• Detection for All Java Apps:
  The service checks all Java-based software within an enterprise, whether custom-built or commercially acquired, including popular frameworks like Spring, Hibernate, Tomcat, Quarkus, Micronaut, Kafka, Cassandra, Elasticsearch, Spark, Hive, Hadoop, and more.

• Historical Traceability for Focused Forensics:
  Azul’s service retains detection history, allowing enterprises to focus forensic efforts on determining if vulnerable code was exploited before it became known as vulnerable.

Azul’s commitment to innovation is evident, reinforcing its leadership in Java development tools and runtimes.

To have a comprehensive overview and insights into the intricate world of Java security and the transformative solutions offered by Azul, download the white paper below.

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