COMMON WEAKNESS ENUMERATIONDraft

CWE-270

Privilege Context Switching Error

The product does not properly manage privileges while it is switching between different contexts that have different privileges or spheres of control.

Abstraction

Base

Structure

Simple

Likelihood of Exploit

Medium

Understand the problem

What is the problem?

The product does not properly manage privileges while it is switching between different contexts that have different privileges or spheres of control.

Root cause

How and when does the problem arise?

Lifecycle phase

Architecture and Design

Lifecycle phase

Implementation

REALIZATION: This weakness is caused during implementation of an architectural security tactic.

Lifecycle phase

Operation

Risk

What does successful exploitation lead to?

Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

Affected security scopes: Access Control

A user can assume the identity of another user with separate privileges in another context. This will give the user unauthorized access that may allow them to acquire the access information of other users.

Defence

How is it prevented and fixed?

Architecture and Design · Operation

Defence to apply across several lifecycle phases

Detail
Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.

Architecture and Design · Operation

Environment Hardening

Detail
Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks [REF-76]. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment. For example, database applications rarely need to run as the database administrator, especially in day-to-day operations.

Architecture and Design

Separation of Privilege

Detail
Consider following the principle of separation of privilege. Require multiple conditions to be met before permitting access to a system resource.