Dataset and Replication package for Platform-Specific APIs, Defensive Code, and Security Issues: Are They Related?

Dataset "Platform-Specific APIs, Defensive Code, and Security Issues: Are They Related?" submitted to ICSME (Visions and Emerging Results Track). We provide a roadmap to replicate all the steps of our methodology. More information in the REPLICABILITY.md file. Herein, we present a concise abstract of the study: A platform-specific API is an API implemented for a particular platform (e.g, Windows and Linux), thus, it may not work on other platforms than the target one. To reduce risks, developers may use defensive code (e.g, try/except blocks) that handles failures when platform-specific APIs are unavailable. Due to their nature, platform-specific APIs may also be exposed to security issues, potentially leading to exploitable vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, platform-specific APIs are scarcely researched, and it remains unclear their relation with defensive code and security issues. In this short paper, we provide an initial empirical study to better understand the relation of platform-specific APIs with defensive code and security issues. Based on the analysis of the Python Standard Library, we found 12,728 cases of platform-specific APIs, of which 74% occur without defensive structures. We also detected 2,417 security issues, of which 23% are related to platform-specific APIs. We conclude the paper by discussing implications for practitioners and researchers.