Description

The software creates a temporary file in a directory whose permissions allow unintended actors to determine the file's existence or otherwise access that file.

Extended Description

On some operating systems, the fact that the temporary file exists may be apparent to any user with sufficient privileges to access that directory. Since the file is visible, the application that is using the temporary file could be known. If one has access to list the processes on the system, the attacker has gained information about what the user is doing at that time. By correlating this with the applications the user is running, an attacker could potentially discover what a user's actions are. From this, higher levels of security could be breached.

Likelihood of Exploit: Low

Applicable Platforms
Language Class: All

Time Of Introduction

• Architecture and Design
• Implementation

Common Consequences

Detection Methods
None

Potential Mitigations

Relationships

Demonstrative Examples   (Details)

1. In the following code examples a temporary file is created and written to and after using the temporary file the file is closed and deleted from the file system. (Demonstrative Example Id DX-101)

White Box Definitions
None

Black Box Definitions
None

Taxynomy Mappings

References:

1. Mark Dowd John McDonald Justin Schuh .The Art of Software Security Assessment 1st Edition. Addison Wesley. Section:'Chapter 9, "Temporary Files", Page 538.'. Published on 2006.