COMMON WEAKNESS ENUMERATIONIncomplete

CWE-433

Unparsed Raw Web Content Delivery

The product stores raw content or supporting code under the web document root with an extension that is not specifically handled by the server.

Abstraction

Variant

Structure

Simple

Likelihood of Exploit

Medium

Understand the problem

What is the problem?

The product stores raw content or supporting code under the web document root with an extension that is not specifically handled by the server.

Extended description

If code is stored in a file with an extension such as ".inc" or ".pl", and the web server does not have a handler for that extension, then the server will likely send the contents of the file directly to the requester without the pre-processing that was expected. When that file contains sensitive information such as database credentials, this may allow the attacker to compromise the application or associated components.

Root cause

How and when does the problem arise?

Lifecycle phase

Implementation

Lifecycle phase

Operation

Risk

What does successful exploitation lead to?

Read Application Data

Affected security scopes: Confidentiality

Defence

How is it prevented and fixed?

Architecture and Design

Architecture and design approach

Detail
Perform a type check before interpreting files.

Architecture and Design

Architecture and design approach

Detail
Do not store sensitive information in files which may be misinterpreted.