COMMON WEAKNESS ENUMERATIONDraft

CWE-386

Symbolic Name not Mapping to Correct Object

A constant symbolic reference to an object is used, even though the reference can resolve to a different object over time.

Abstraction

Base

Structure

Simple

Likelihood of Exploit

Medium

Understand the problem

What is the problem?

A constant symbolic reference to an object is used, even though the reference can resolve to a different object over time.

Root cause

How and when does the problem arise?

Lifecycle phase

Architecture and Design

Lifecycle phase

Implementation

Risk

What does successful exploitation lead to?

Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

Affected security scopes: Access Control

The attacker can gain access to otherwise unauthorized resources.
Modify Application DataModify Files or DirectoriesRead Application DataRead Files or DirectoriesOther

Affected security scopes: Integrity, Confidentiality, Other

Race conditions such as this kind may be employed to gain read or write access to resources not normally readable or writable by the user in question.
Modify Application DataOther

Affected security scopes: Integrity, Other

The resource in question, or other resources (through the corrupted one) may be changed in undesirable ways by a malicious user.
Hide Activities

Affected security scopes: Non-Repudiation

If a file or other resource is written in this method, as opposed to a valid way, logging of the activity may not occur.
Modify Files or Directories

Affected security scopes: Non-Repudiation, Integrity

In some cases it may be possible to delete files that a malicious user might not otherwise have access to -- such as log files.

Defence

How is it prevented and fixed?

  • Follow secure coding guidelines for input handling and boundary checking.
  • Enforce strict security reviews and automated static analysis (SAST) checks.