Microsoft patents AI tool to auto-fix security bugs in software
Microsoft has filed a patent for a system that uses a generative model to create security fixes for software. The tool takes a known fix from a main codebase and adapts it to fit a related, downstream version of the software. It combines example fixes with the specific code differences to generate the correct patch automatically.
In the filing’s own words
In various examples there is a computer-implemented method of generating a patch to fix a vulnerability in a downstream software package. An upstream source code and an upstream patch are received. A downstream software package corresponding to the upstream source code is identified. A training shot is selected from a store of training shots. Input for a generative model is generated, the input comprising the training shot and an inference shot, the inference shot comprising the upstream source code, upstream patch, rejected hunks of the upstream patch and downstream source code. The input is provided to the generative model which generates the downstream patch.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A computer-implemented method of generating a patch to fix a vulnerability in a downstream software package, the method comprising: receiving an upstream source code and an upstream patch; identifying a downstream software source code corresponding to the upstream source code; selecting a training shot from a store of training shots; generating input for a generative model, the input comprising the training shot and an inference shot, the inference shot comprising the upstream source code, upstream patch, rejected hunks of the upstream patch and downstream source code; and providing the input to the generative model to generates the downstream patch.
Facts
- Company
- Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
- Official title
- PATCHING SOURCE CODE VULNERABILITIES
- Publication number
- US20260259990A1
- Application number
- 19066992
- Filed
- Feb 28, 2025
- Published
- Sep 3, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 21/577 Physics & computingG06F 21/572 Physics & computingMore from Microsoft in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.