CWE-468 Details

CWE-468

Incorrect Pointer Scaling
Mittel
Incomplete
2006-07-19
00h00 +00:00
2025-12-11
00h00 +00:00
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Name: Incorrect Pointer Scaling

In C and C++, one may often accidentally refer to the wrong memory due to the semantics of when math operations are implicitly scaled.

Allgemeine Informationen

Einführungsmodi

Implementation : Programmers may try to index from a pointer by adding a number of bytes. This is incorrect because C and C++ implicitly scale the operand by the size of the data type.

Anwendbare Plattformen

Sprache

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

Häufige Konsequenzen

Bereich Auswirkung Wahrscheinlichkeit
Confidentiality
Integrity
Read Memory, Modify Memory

Note: Incorrect pointer scaling will often result in buffer overflow conditions. Confidentiality can be compromised if the weakness is in the context of a buffer over-read or under-read.

Mögliche Gegenmaßnahmen

Phases : Architecture and Design
Use a platform with high-level memory abstractions.
Phases : Implementation
Always use array indexing instead of direct pointer manipulation.
Phases : Architecture and Design
Use technologies for preventing buffer overflows.

Erkennungsmethoden

Automated Static Analysis

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.)
Wirksamkeit : High

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

REF-62

The Art of Software Security Assessment
Mark Dowd, John McDonald, Justin Schuh.

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
KDM Analytics 2008-08-01 +00:00 added/updated white box definitions
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 2009-05-27 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples
KDM Analytics 2009-07-17 +00:00 Improved the White_Box_Definition
CWE Content Team MITRE 2009-07-27 +00:00 updated White_Box_Definitions
CWE Content Team MITRE 2009-10-29 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences
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 2012-05-11 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples, References, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2012-10-30 +00:00 updated Potential_Mitigations
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-06-23 +00:00 updated Modes_of_Introduction, Other_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-07-30 +00:00 updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2017-11-08 +00:00 updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings, White_Box_Definitions
CWE Content Team MITRE 2019-01-03 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-02-24 +00:00 updated References
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-06-29 +00:00 updated Mapping_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2025-12-11 +00:00 updated Detection_Factors, Weakness_Ordinalities