Taint Analysis
Taint analysis is a program analysis technique used to track the flow of untrusted or sensitive data (tainted data) through a system. It identifies how tainted inputs propagate through code to detect potential security vulnerabilities, such as injection attacks or data leaks. This method is commonly applied in static analysis tools to enhance software security by flagging unsafe data handling.
Developers should learn taint analysis to build more secure applications by preventing common vulnerabilities like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and command injection. It is essential in security-critical domains such as web development, financial software, and systems handling user data, where untrusted inputs must be sanitized to avoid exploits. Using taint analysis tools helps automate vulnerability detection during development and code review.