CWE-547 Detail

CWE-547

Use of Hard-coded, Security-relevant Constants
Draft
2006-07-19
00h00 +00:00
2025-12-11
00h00 +00:00
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Gestione notifiche

Nome: Use of Hard-coded, Security-relevant Constants

The product uses hard-coded constants instead of symbolic names for security-critical values, which increases the likelihood of mistakes during code maintenance or security policy change.

CWE Description

If the developer does not find all occurrences of the hard-coded constants, an incorrect policy decision may be made if one of the constants is not changed. Making changes to these values will require code changes that may be difficult or impossible once the system is released to the field. In addition, these hard-coded values may become available to attackers if the code is ever disclosed.

General Informations

Modes Of Introduction

Implementation

Piattaforme applicabili

Linguaggio

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined)

Conseguenze comuni

Ambito Impatto Probabilità
OtherVaries by Context, Quality Degradation, Reduce Maintainability

Note: The existence of hardcoded constants could cause unexpected behavior and the introduction of weaknesses during code maintenance or when making changes to the code if all occurrences are not modified. The use of hardcoded constants is an indication of poor quality.

Potential Mitigations

Phases : Implementation
Avoid using hard-coded constants. Configuration files offer a more flexible solution.

Detection Methods

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.)
Effectiveness : High

Note sulla mappatura delle vulnerabilità

Giustificazione : 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.
Commento : 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.

Invio

Nome Organizzazione Data Data di rilascio Version
Anonymous Tool Vendor (under NDA) 2006-07-19 +00:00 2006-07-19 +00:00 Draft 3

Modifiche

Nome Organizzazione Data Commento
Eric Dalci Cigital 2008-07-01 +00:00 updated Potential_Mitigations, Time_of_Introduction
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-09-08 +00:00 updated Description, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-11-24 +00:00 updated Description, Potential_Mitigations, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
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 Common_Consequences, 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, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2019-01-03 +00:00 updated Relationships, Weakness_Ordinalities
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-02-24 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2021-10-28 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-01-31 +00:00 updated Description
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Detection_Factors, Relationships, Type
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-06-29 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples, Mapping_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2024-02-29 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples
CWE Content Team MITRE 2025-12-11 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms, Common_Consequences, Relationships