JS: Restrict receiver-flow in API graphs#20586
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asgerf merged 3 commits intogithub:mainfrom Oct 8, 2025
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Pull Request Overview
This PR restricts receiver-flow in API graphs to improve performance by preventing flow tracking from following argument-passing edges for receivers of method calls. The change recognizes that external library objects typically don't have methods defined in the current codebase, making such tracking unnecessary except in subclassing scenarios which are handled separately.
Key changes:
- Introduces a new
CallReceiverSteptype to distinguish receiver argument-passing from regular argument-passing - Blocks API graph tracking through receiver steps to prevent unnecessary flow analysis
- Adds test case to verify the new behavior with explicit receiver binding
Reviewed Changes
Copilot reviewed 6 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| javascript/ql/lib/semmle/javascript/dataflow/internal/StepSummary.qll | Introduces CallReceiverStep type and logic to detect method dispatch receivers |
| javascript/ql/lib/semmle/javascript/dataflow/TypeTracking.qll | Updates type tracking to handle the new CallReceiverStep |
| javascript/ql/lib/semmle/javascript/ApiGraphs.qll | Blocks API graph tracking through receiver steps |
| javascript/ql/test/ApiGraphs/explicit-this/tst.js | Test case demonstrating explicit receiver binding scenario |
| javascript/ql/test/ApiGraphs/explicit-this/package.json | Package configuration for test case |
| javascript/ql/test/ApiGraphs/explicit-this/VerifyAssertions.ql | Test query to verify assertions |
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Restricts the flow of use/def nodes in API graphs to not follow argument-passing edges for receivers of method calls.
When tracking a use-node, the intent is to track an object that was created in external code (usually an imported library). Such objects will generally not have methods that were defined in the current codebase, except in subclassing scenarios which is modelled by other means (not by argument-passing).
This fixes a performance issue observed in some codebases.