detecting-suspicious-assert

name	detecting-suspicious-assert
description	Detects suspicious use of assertions for security checks that can be disabled in production builds. Use when analyzing assertion usage, security checks, or investigating assert-related vulnerabilities.

Suspicious Assert Detection

Detection Workflow

1. Identify assert operations: Find all assert() calls, locate assertion macros, identify static_assert usage, map assertion patterns
2. Analyze assert purpose: Determine assert intent, check if used for security, assess criticality of check, review assert context
3. Check for bypass potential: Verify if asserts are disabled, assess release build behavior, check for compile-time flags, review build configuration
4. Assess security impact: Can assert be bypassed? What's the security impact? Is critical check disabled? What's the exploit potential?

Key Patterns

• Asserts for security checks: using assert() for input validation, using assert() for security checks, using assert() for authentication, using assert() for authorization
• Asserts that can be disabled: critical checks using assert(), security-critical validations using assert(), resource allocation checks using assert(), bounds checks using assert()
• Asserts with side effects: asserts with function calls, asserts with assignments, asserts modifying state, asserts with non-pure expressions
• Incorrect assert usage: asserts on user-controlled data, asserts that can be bypassed, asserts in release builds, asserts in production code

Output Format

Report with: id, type, subtype, severity, confidence, location, vulnerability, assert_statement, assert_type, check_purpose, disabled_in_release, exploitable, attack_scenario, impact, mitigation.

Severity Guidelines

• HIGH: Assert used for critical security checks
• MEDIUM: Assert used for important validation
• LOW: Assert used for debugging only

See Also

• patterns.md - Detailed detection patterns and exploitation scenarios
• examples.md - Example analysis cases and code samples
• references.md - CWE references and mitigation strategies