CWE-588 Detail

CWE-588

Attempt to Access Child of a Non-structure Pointer
Incomplete
2006-12-15
00h00 +00:00
2023-10-26
00h00 +00:00
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Name: Attempt to Access Child of a Non-structure Pointer

Casting a non-structure type to a structure type and accessing a field can lead to memory access errors or data corruption.

General Informations

Modes Of Introduction

Implementation

Common Consequences

Scope Impact Likelihood
IntegrityModify Memory

Note: Adjacent variables in memory may be corrupted by assignments performed on fields after the cast.
AvailabilityDoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

Note: Execution may end due to a memory access error.

Observed Examples

References Description

CVE-2021-3510

JSON decoder accesses a C union using an invalid offset to an object

Potential Mitigations

Phases : Requirements
The choice could be made to use a language that is not susceptible to these issues.
Phases : Implementation
Review of type casting operations can identify locations where incompatible types are cast.

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Justification : This CWE entry is at the Variant level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.
Comment : 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.

Submission

Name Organization Date Date release Version
CWE Community 2006-12-15 +00:00 2006-12-15 +00:00 Draft 5

Modifications

Name Organization Date Comment
Eric Dalci Cigital 2008-07-01 +00:00 updated Time_of_Introduction
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-09-08 +00:00 updated Relationships, Other_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2009-03-10 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2009-07-27 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences, Other_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2011-06-01 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences
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, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2017-11-08 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples
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 2023-10-26 +00:00 updated Observed_Examples
The information presented on CVE Find originates from several carefully selected reference sources. CVE data is provided by MITRE Corporation and the National Vulnerability Database (NVD). The Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog is sourced from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), while EPSS scores come from FIRST.org. Additionally, data regarding software weaknesses (CWE) and common attack patterns (CAPEC) is maintained by MITRE Corporation, and information on hardware and software configurations (CPE) is provided by the NVD.