#vulnerable code 
                                private DmidecodeStrings readDmiDecode() {
        String manufacturer = null;
        String version = null;
        String releaseDate = null;

        // $ sudo dmidecode -t bios
        // # dmidecode 3.0
        // Scanning /dev/mem for entry point.
        // SMBIOS 2.7 present.
        //
        // Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
        // BIOS Information
        // Vendor: Parallels Software International Inc.
        // Version: 11.2.1 (32626)
        // Release Date: 07/15/2016
        // ... <snip> ...
        // BIOS Revision: 11.2
        // Firmware Revision: 11.2

        final String manufacturerMarker = "Vendor:";
        final String versionMarker = "Version:";
        final String releaseDateMarker = "Release Date:";

        // Only works with root permissions but it's all we've got
        for (final String checkLine : ExecutingCommand.runNative("dmidecode -t bios")) {
            if (checkLine.contains(manufacturerMarker)) {
                manufacturer = checkLine.split(manufacturerMarker)[1].trim();
            } else if (checkLine.contains(versionMarker)) {
                version = checkLine.split(versionMarker)[1].trim();
            } else if (checkLine.contains(releaseDateMarker)) {
                releaseDate = checkLine.split(releaseDateMarker)[1].trim();
            }
        }
        releaseDate = ParseUtil.parseMmDdYyyyToYyyyMmDD(releaseDate);
        return new DmidecodeStrings(manufacturer, version, releaseDate);
    } 
                            #location 34 
                            #vulnerability type NULL_DEREFERENCE
#fixed code
                                private DmidecodeStrings readDmiDecode() {
        String manufacturer = null;
        String version = null;
        String releaseDate = "";

        // $ sudo dmidecode -t bios
        // # dmidecode 3.0
        // Scanning /dev/mem for entry point.
        // SMBIOS 2.7 present.
        //
        // Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
        // BIOS Information
        // Vendor: Parallels Software International Inc.
        // Version: 11.2.1 (32626)
        // Release Date: 07/15/2016
        // ... <snip> ...
        // BIOS Revision: 11.2
        // Firmware Revision: 11.2

        final String manufacturerMarker = "Vendor:";
        final String versionMarker = "Version:";
        final String releaseDateMarker = "Release Date:";

        // Only works with root permissions but it's all we've got
        for (final String checkLine : ExecutingCommand.runNative("dmidecode -t bios")) {
            if (checkLine.contains(manufacturerMarker)) {
                manufacturer = checkLine.split(manufacturerMarker)[1].trim();
            } else if (checkLine.contains(versionMarker)) {
                version = checkLine.split(versionMarker)[1].trim();
            } else if (checkLine.contains(releaseDateMarker)) {
                releaseDate = checkLine.split(releaseDateMarker)[1].trim();
            }
        }
        releaseDate = ParseUtil.parseMmDdYyyyToYyyyMmDD(releaseDate);
        return new DmidecodeStrings(manufacturer, version, releaseDate);
    }