CWE

Use of Potentially Dangerous Function

ID: 676		Date: (C)2012-05-14   (M)2022-10-10
Type: weakness		Status: DRAFT
Abstraction Type: Base

Description

The program invokes a potentially dangerous function that could introduce a vulnerability if it is used incorrectly, but the function can also be used safely.

Likelihood of Exploit: High

Applicable Platforms
Language: C
Language: C++

Time Of Introduction

• Architecture and Design
• Implementation

Related Attack Patterns

• CAPEC-113

Common Consequences

Scope	Technical Impact	Notes
Other	Varies by context Quality degradation Unexpected state	If the function is used incorrectly, then it could result in security problems.

Detection Methods
None

Potential Mitigations

Phase	Strategy	Description	Effectiveness	Notes
Build and Compilation Implementation		Identify a list of prohibited API functions and prohibit developers from using these functions, providing safer alternatives. In some cases, automatic code analysis tools or the compiler can be instructed to spot use of prohibited functions, such as the "banned.h" include file from Microsoft's SDL. [R.676.1] [R.676.2]

Relationships
This weakness is different than CWE-242 (Use of Inherently Dangerous Function). CWE-242 covers functions with such significant security problems that they can never be guaranteed to be safe. Some functions, if used properly, do not directly pose a security risk, but can introduce a weakness if not called correctly. These are regarded as potentially dangerous. A well-known example is the strcpy() function. When provided with a destination buffer that is larger than its source, strcpy() will not overflow. However, it is so often misused that some developers prohibit strcpy() entirely.

Related CWE	Type	View	Chain
CWE-676 ChildOf CWE-887	Category	CWE-888

Demonstrative Examples   (Details)

1. The following code attempts to create a local copy of a buffer to perform some manipulations to the data. (Demonstrative Example Id DX-6)

Observed Examples

1. CVE-2007-1470 : Library has multiple buffer overflows using sprintf() and strcpy()
2. CVE-2009-3849 : Buffer overflow using strcat()
3. CVE-2006-2114 : Buffer overflow using strcpy()
4. CVE-2006-0963 : Buffer overflow using strcpy()
5. CVE-2011-0712 : Vulnerable use of strcpy() changed to use safer strlcpy()
6. CVE-2008-5005 : Buffer overflow using strcpy()

For more examples, refer to CVE relations in the bottom box.

White Box Definitions
None

Black Box Definitions
None

Taxynomy Mappings

Taxynomy	Id	Name	Fit
7 Pernicious Kingdoms		Dangerous Functions
CERT C Secure Coding	ERR07-C	Prefer functions that support error checking over equivalent functions that don't
CERT C Secure Coding	FIO01-C	Be careful using functions that use file names for identification
CERT C Secure Coding	INT06-C	Use strtol() or a related function to convert a string token to an integer
CERT C++ Secure Coding	INT06-CPP	Use strtol() or a related function to convert a string token to an integer
CERT C++ Secure Coding	FIO01-CPP	Be careful using functions that use file names for identification

References:

1. Michael Howard .Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) Banned Function Calls.
2. M. Howard D. LeBlanc .Writing Secure Code 2nd Edition. Microsoft. Section:'Chapter 5, "Safe String Handling" Page 156, 160'. Published on 2002.
3. Mark Dowd John McDonald Justin Schuh .The Art of Software Security Assessment 1st Edition. Addison Wesley. Section:'Chapter 8, "C String Handling", Page 388.'. Published on 2006.