CWE-415 Detail

CWE-415

Double Free
Hoog
Draft
2006-07-19
00h00 +00:00
2025-12-11
00h00 +00:00
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Naam: Double Free

The product calls free() twice on the same memory address.

Algemene informatie

Introductiemodi

Implementation

Toepasselijke platforms

Taal

Class: Memory-Unsafe (Often)
Name: C (Undetermined)
Name: C++ (Undetermined)

Veelvoorkomende gevolgen

Bereik Impact Waarschijnlijkheid
Integrity
Confidentiality
Availability
Modify Memory, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

Waargenomen voorbeelden

Referenties Beschrijving

CVE-2006-5051

Chain: Signal handler contains too much functionality (CWE-828), introducing a race condition (CWE-362) that leads to a double free (CWE-415).

CVE-2004-0642

Double free resultant from certain error conditions.

CVE-2004-0772

Double free resultant from certain error conditions.

CVE-2005-1689

Double free resultant from certain error conditions.

CVE-2003-0545

Double free from invalid ASN.1 encoding.

CVE-2003-1048

Double free from malformed GIF.

CVE-2005-0891

Double free from malformed GIF.

CVE-2002-0059

Double free from malformed compressed data.

Mogelijke risicobeperkingen

Phases : Architecture and Design
Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
Phases : Implementation
Ensure that each allocation is freed only once. After freeing a chunk, set the pointer to NULL to ensure the pointer cannot be freed again. In complicated error conditions, be sure that clean-up routines respect the state of allocation properly. If the language is object oriented, ensure that object destructors delete each chunk of memory only once.
Phases : Implementation
Use a static analysis tool to find double free instances.

Detectiemethoden

Fuzzing

Fuzz testing (fuzzing) is a powerful technique for generating large numbers of diverse inputs - either randomly or algorithmically - and dynamically invoking the code with those inputs. Even with random inputs, it is often capable of generating unexpected results such as crashes, memory corruption, or resource consumption. Fuzzing effectively produces repeatable test cases that clearly indicate bugs, which helps developers to diagnose the issues.
Effectiviteit : High

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.)
Effectiviteit : High

Automated Dynamic Analysis

Use tools that are integrated during compilation to insert runtime error-checking mechanisms related to memory safety errors, such as AddressSanitizer (ASan) for C/C++ [REF-1518].
Effectiviteit : Moderate

Notities kwetsbaarheidsmapping

Rechtvaardiging : 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.
Opmerking : 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.

Notities

This is usually resultant from another weakness, such as an unhandled error or race condition between threads. It could also be primary to weaknesses such as buffer overflows.
It could be argued that Double Free would be most appropriately located as a child of "Use after Free", but "Use" and "Release" are considered to be distinct operations within vulnerability theory, therefore this is more accurately "Release of a Resource after Expiration or Release", which doesn't exist yet.

Referenties

REF-44

24 Deadly Sins of Software Security
Michael Howard, David LeBlanc, John Viega.

REF-62

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

REF-18

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

REF-1518

AddressSanitizer
https://clang.llvm.org/docs/AddressSanitizer.html

Indiening

Naam Organisatie Datum Releasedatum Version
PLOVER 2006-07-19 +00:00 2006-07-19 +00:00 Draft 3

Wijzigingen

Naam Organisatie Datum Opmerking
Eric Dalci Cigital 2008-07-01 +00:00 updated Potential_Mitigations, 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, Description, Maintenance_Notes, Relationships, Other_Notes, Relationship_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
CWE Content Team MITRE 2009-10-29 +00:00 updated Other_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2010-09-27 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2010-12-13 +00:00 updated Observed_Examples, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2011-06-01 +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 References, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-07-30 +00:00 updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2015-12-07 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2017-11-08 +00:00 updated Likelihood_of_Exploit, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings, White_Box_Definitions
CWE Content Team MITRE 2019-01-03 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2019-06-20 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-02-24 +00:00 updated References, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-06-25 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-08-20 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-12-10 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2021-03-15 +00:00 updated Maintenance_Notes, Theoretical_Notes
CWE Content Team MITRE 2021-10-28 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-04-28 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples, Observed_Examples
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Detection_Factors, 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 Common_Consequences, Description, Diagram
CWE Content Team MITRE 2025-09-09 +00:00 updated Functional_Areas
CWE Content Team MITRE 2025-12-11 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms, Detection_Factors, References, Weakness_Ordinalities