Rust-cola

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Security static analyzer for Rust code

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# Rust-cola

[![Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/version-1.0.1-blue.svg)](https://github.com/Opus-the-penguin/Rust-cola/releases)
[![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-green.svg)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Opus-the-penguin/Rust-cola/main/LICENSE)

Security static analyzer for Rust code.

**Note:** Requires nightly Rust. Target code must compile to extract [MIR (Mid-level Intermediate Representation)](https://blog.rust-lang.org/2016/04/19/MIR/).

## Installation

```bash
rustup toolchain install nightly
git clone https://github.com/Opus-the-penguin/Rust-cola.git
cd Rust-cola
cargo build --release
```

Binary: `target/release/cargo-cola`

The CLI is named `cargo-cola`; once built, invoke `cargo-cola ...` for scans.

**Linux only:** Requires OpenSSL development libraries (`libssl-dev` on Debian/Ubuntu, `openssl-devel` on Fedora/RHEL). macOS and Windows use native TLS and need no extra dependencies.

> **Note:** The `examples/` directory contains intentionally vulnerable code patterns for testing Rust-COLA's detection capabilities. These crates may have unmaintained or vulnerable dependencies by design and are not part of the distributed tool.

## Usage

Rust-cola works with LLM-assisted triage.

1. Run the scan on your target project:
   ```bash
   cargo-cola --crate-path <PATH>
   ```
   The scan emits an artifact set at `out/cola/`, including an LLM prompt.

2. Point your LLM at `out/cola/llm-prompt.md`:
   - **VS Code + Copilot:** Reference the file in chat
   - **Claude/ChatGPT:** Upload or paste the file contents

3. The LLM follows the prompt instructions and saves its report to `out/cola/security-report.md`.

**Without LLM (air-gapped/data residency):** Use `--no-llm-prompt` for standalone analysis. The `raw-report.md` contains all findings but without LLM false-positive filtering.

### Options

| Flag | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `--crate-path <PATH>` | Target crate or workspace (default: `.`) |
| `--out-dir <PATH>` | Output directory (default: `out/cola`) |
| `--config <PATH>` | Path to configuration file (YAML format) |
| `--report <PATH>` | Generate standalone heuristic report |
| `--sarif <PATH>` | Custom SARIF output path |
| `--llm-prompt <PATH>` | Path for LLM prompt file |
| `--llm-endpoint <URL>` | LLM API endpoint |
| `--llm-model <NAME>` | Model name (e.g., gpt-4, llama3) |
| `--llm-temperature <FLOAT>` | Sampling temperature (default: `0.0`) |
| `--exclude-tests <bool>` | Exclude test code (default: `true`) |
| `--with-audit` | Run cargo-audit to check dependencies |
| `--rulepack <PATH>` | Additional rules from YAML |
| `--rules` | Print loaded rule metadata |
| `--fail-on-findings <bool>` | Exit with code 1 when findings are produced (default: `true`) |

Run `cargo-cola --help` for the full list.

### VS Code Copilot Chat workflow

If you prefer to stay inside VS Code and let Copilot Chat drive the scan, a lightweight flow is:

- `run cargo-cola scan on /<PATH>` to point at the target crate/workspace.
- `emit artifacts to /<PATH>/out/cola/` (or specify `--out-dir <PATH>` explicitly).
- `read and execute instructions in /<PATH>/out/cola/llm-prompt.md` once the artifacts land.
- `save final security report in /<PATH>/out/cola/security-report.md` so the scan and triage output live together.

This skips the manual paste workflow and keeps the Scan -> LLM triage -> report loop inside one chat context.

### Workflow

```
Source Code -> MIR -> Rule Engine -> Taint* -> Raw Findings -> LLM Triage -> Security Report
```

*Taint stage runs only for rules that opt into MIR data-flow today; pattern-only rules skip straight to Raw Findings.*

The LLM triage step applies a structured analysis:

```
Verify -> Guards -> Prune -> Exploit -> Impact -> Severity -> Fix
```

## Output Artifacts

By default, all artifacts are written to `out/cola/` **relative to your current working directory** (not the target crate). Existing files are timestamped to avoid overwriting.

| File | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `manifest.json` | Metadata and paths for all generated artifacts |
| `mir.json` | MIR extraction (functions, blocks, statements) |
| `ast.json` | AST extraction (modules, functions, structs) |
| `hir.json` | HIR extraction for researchers (optional, requires `--features hir-driver`) |
| `raw-findings.json` | Raw findings from all rules (pre-LLM validation) |
| `raw-findings.sarif` | Raw SARIF 2.1.0 output with all findings (includes `codeContext` and `suppressions` for audit trail) |
| `raw-report.md` | Standalone report without LLM validation |
| `llm-prompt.md` | Prompt file for LLM triage |
| `security-report.md` | LLM-generated report (created after LLM triage) |

## Rules

126 rules grouped by vulnerability category:

| Category | Rules | Examples |
|----------|-------|----------|
| **Memory Safety** | 24 | Transmute misuse, uninitialized memory, Box leaks, raw pointer escapes, slice safety, self-referential structs, returned refs to locals, UnsafeCell aliasing, lazy init poison, use-after-free |
| **Concurrency** | 21 | Mutex across await, blocking in async, Send/Sync violations, executor starvation, closure escaping refs, cancellation safety, async drop correctness, panic in Drop, task panic propagation |
| **Input Validation** | 15 | Env vars, stdin, unicode, deserialization, division by untrusted, timestamp overflow, binary deser, regex DoS, integer overflow, allocation size |
| **FFI** | 11 | Allocator mismatch, CString pointer misuse, packed fields, panic in FFI, WASM linear memory OOB, WASM host trust, WASM capability leaks |
| **Web Security** | 14 | TLS validation, CORS, cookies, passwords in logs, Content-Length, template injection, unsafe Send across async |
| **Injection** | 10 | SQL injection, command injection, path traversal, SSRF, log injection |
| **Resource Management** | 10 | File permissions, open options, infinite iterators, unbounded allocations |
| **Code Quality** | 9 | Dead stores, assertions, crate-wide allow, RefCell, commented code, unwrap in hot paths |
| **Cryptography** | 8 | Weak hashes (MD5/SHA1), weak ciphers, hardcoded keys, timing attacks, PRNG bias |
| **Supply Chain** | 4 | RUSTSEC advisories, yanked crates, auditable dependencies, proc-macro side effects |

### Detection Levels

Rules use different analysis techniques with varying precision:

| Level | Method | Precision | Rules | % |
|-------|--------|-----------|-------|---|
| **Heuristic** | Pattern matching on MIR text | Good | 63 | 50% |
| **Structural** | MIR statement/terminator analysis | Better | 26 | 21% |
| **Dataflow** | Intra-function value tracking | High | 32 | 25% |
| **Interprocedural** | Cross-function taint tracking | Highest | 5 | 4% |

See the [Rule Development Guide](docs/RULE_DEVELOPMENT_GUIDE.md) for custom rules and YAML rulepacks.

## Interprocedural Analysis

Some rules (SQL injection, path traversal, SSRF, etc.) track data flow across function calls. This is memory-intensive on large codebases, so analysis has built-in limits configurable via YAML:

```bash
cargo-cola --config cargo-cola.yaml --crate-path .
```

**Example `cargo-cola.yaml`:**

```yaml
analysis:
  max_path_depth: 8          # Maximum call chain depth (default: 8)
  max_flows_per_source: 200  # Flows per source function (default: 200)
  max_visited: 1000          # Functions visited per exploration (default: 1000)
  max_total_flows: 5000      # Total inter-procedural flows (default: 5000)
  max_functions_for_ipa: 10000  # Skip IPA for crates larger than this (default: 10000)
```

See `examples/cargo-cola.yaml` for a complete example.

## Etymology

**cola** = **CO**de **L**exical **A**nalyzer. Also, cola removes rust.

## License

MIT - See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for details.

## Contributing

Please [file issues](https://github.com/Opus-the-penguin/Rust-cola/issues) with feedback or suggestions.

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