Which issue can be detected with static application security testing (SAST)?

Static application security testing (SAST) is a methodology that analyzes source code and binaries to identify vulnerabilities and security flaws in applications early in the development cycle. One of the key aspects SAST examines is how an application handles threading, as multi-threaded applications can have vulnerabilities related to race conditions, deadlocks, and concurrency issues, which can lead to significant security risks.

Threading issues are typically detectable through SAST because it reviews the code without executing it, allowing it to find potential problems such as improper synchronization or incorrect handling of shared resources. This analysis enables developers to address these vulnerabilities before the application is deployed, ensuring a more secure software development lifecycle.

In contrast, authentication issues may involve runtime behaviors and user interactions that are more suited for dynamic testing or runtime analysis. Performance-related issues are often linked to how the application runs in a live environment and how it scales, rather than what the static code might indicate. Malware detection is typically beyond the scope of SAST, as it usually requires behavioral analysis of running software or analyzing data files for known malicious signatures. Thus, the ability of SAST to detect threading issues highlights its importance in building secure applications from the ground up.