COMMON WEAKNESS ENUMERATIONDraft

CWE-561

Dead Code

The product contains dead code, which can never be executed.

Abstraction

Base

Structure

Simple

Likelihood of Exploit

Medium

Understand the problem

What is the problem?

The product contains dead code, which can never be executed.

Extended description

Dead code is code that can never be executed in a running program. The surrounding code makes it impossible for a section of code to ever be executed.

Root cause

How and when does the problem arise?

Lifecycle phase

Implementation

Risk

What does successful exploitation lead to?

Quality Degradation

Affected security scopes: Other

Dead code that results from code that can never be executed is an indication of problems with the source code that needs to be fixed and is an indication of poor quality.
Reduce Maintainability

Affected security scopes: Other

Defence

How is it prevented and fixed?

Implementation

Implementation-phase defence

Detail
Remove dead code before deploying the application.

Verification

How is it detected?

Architecture or Design Review

High
According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: ``` Highly cost effective: ``` Inspection (IEEE 1028 standard) (can apply to requirements, design, source code, etc.) Formal Methods / Correct-By-Construction ``` Cost effective for partial coverage: ``` Attack Modeling

Automated Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode

High
According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: ``` Highly cost effective: ``` Binary / Bytecode Quality Analysis Compare binary / bytecode to application permission manifest

Dynamic Analysis with Manual Results Interpretation

SOAR Partial
According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: ``` Cost effective for partial coverage: ``` Automated Monitored Execution

Automated Static Analysis

SOAR Partial
According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: ``` Cost effective for partial coverage: ``` Permission Manifest Analysis

Automated Static Analysis - Source Code

High
According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: ``` Highly cost effective: ``` Source Code Quality Analyzer ``` Cost effective for partial coverage: ``` Warning Flags Source code Weakness Analyzer Context-configured Source Code Weakness Analyzer

Dynamic Analysis with Automated Results Interpretation

SOAR Partial
According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: ``` Cost effective for partial coverage: ``` Web Application Scanner Web Services Scanner Database Scanners

Manual Static Analysis - Source Code

High
According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: ``` Highly cost effective: ``` Manual Source Code Review (not inspections) ``` Cost effective for partial coverage: ``` Focused Manual Spotcheck - Focused manual analysis of source