CWE-464 Details

CWE-464

Addition of Data Structure Sentinel
Hoch
Incomplete
2006-07-19
00h00 +00:00
2025-12-11
00h00 +00:00
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Name: Addition of Data Structure Sentinel

The accidental addition of a data-structure sentinel can cause serious programming logic problems.

CWE-Beschreibung

Data-structure sentinels are often used to mark the structure of data. A common example of this is the null character at the end of strings or a special sentinel to mark the end of a linked list. It is dangerous to allow this type of control data to be easily accessible. Therefore, it is important to protect from the addition or modification of sentinels.

Allgemeine Informationen

Einführungsmodi

Implementation

Anwendbare Plattformen

Sprache

Name: C (Undetermined)
Name: C++ (Undetermined)

Häufige Konsequenzen

Bereich Auswirkung Wahrscheinlichkeit
IntegrityModify Application Data

Note: Generally this error will cause the data structure to not work properly by truncating the data.

Mögliche Gegenmaßnahmen

Phases : Implementation // Architecture and Design
Encapsulate the user from interacting with data sentinels. Validate user input to verify that sentinels are not present.
Phases : Implementation
Proper error checking can reduce the risk of inadvertently introducing sentinel values into data. For example, if a parsing function fails or encounters an error, it might return a value that is the same as the sentinel.
Phases : Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. This is not a complete solution.
Phases : Operation
Use OS-level preventative functionality. This is not a complete solution.

Hinweise zur Schwachstellen-Zuordnung

Begründung : This CWE entry is at the Base level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.
Kommentar : Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

Referenzen

REF-18

The CLASP Application Security Process
Secure Software, Inc..
https://cwe.mitre.org/documents/sources/TheCLASPApplicationSecurityProcess.pdf

Einreichung

Name Organisation Datum Veröffentlichungsdatum Version
CLASP 2006-07-19 +00:00 2006-07-19 +00:00 Draft 3

Änderungen

Name Organisation Datum Kommentar
Eric Dalci Cigital 2008-07-01 +00:00 updated Time_of_Introduction
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-09-08 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms, Common_Consequences, Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-11-24 +00:00 updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2009-07-27 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples, Description, Other_Notes, Potential_Mitigations, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2011-06-01 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences
CWE Content Team MITRE 2011-06-27 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences
CWE Content Team MITRE 2011-09-13 +00:00 updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2012-05-11 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2012-10-30 +00:00 updated Potential_Mitigations
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-07-30 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2017-11-08 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples, Likelihood_of_Exploit, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-02-24 +00:00 updated References, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Relationships, Time_of_Introduction
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-06-29 +00:00 updated Mapping_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2025-04-03 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples
CWE Content Team MITRE 2025-12-11 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples, Weakness_Ordinalities