COMMON WEAKNESS ENUMERATIONIncomplete

CWE-589

Call to Non-ubiquitous API

The product uses an API function that does not exist on all versions of the target platform. This could cause portability problems or inconsistencies that allow denial of service or other consequences.

Abstraction

Variant

Structure

Simple

Likelihood of Exploit

Medium

Understand the problem

What is the problem?

The product uses an API function that does not exist on all versions of the target platform. This could cause portability problems or inconsistencies that allow denial of service or other consequences.

Extended description

Some functions that offer security features supported by the OS are not available on all versions of the OS in common use. Likewise, functions are often deprecated or made obsolete for security reasons and should not be used.

Root cause

How and when does the problem arise?

Lifecycle phase

Architecture and Design

Lifecycle phase

Implementation

Risk

What does successful exploitation lead to?

Quality Degradation

Affected security scopes: Other

Defence

How is it prevented and fixed?

Implementation

Implementation-phase defence

Detail
Always test your code on any platform on which it is targeted to run on.

Testing

Testing and verification approach

Detail
Test your code on the newest and oldest platform on which it is targeted to run on.

Testing

Testing and verification approach

Detail
Develop a system to test for API functions that are not portable.

Verification

How is it detected?

Automated Static Analysis

High
Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)