Access of Uninitialized PointerID: 824 | Date: (C)2012-05-14 (M)2022-10-10 |
Type: weakness | Status: INCOMPLETE |
Abstraction Type: Base |
Description
The program accesses or uses a pointer that has not been
initialized.
Extended DescriptionIf the pointer contains an uninitialized value, then the value might not
point to a valid memory location. This could cause the program to read from
or write to unexpected memory locations, leading to a denial of service. If
the uninitialized pointer is used as a function call, then arbitrary
functions could be invoked. If an attacker can influence the portion of
uninitialized memory that is contained in the pointer, this weakness could
be leveraged to execute code or perform other attacks.Depending on memory layout, associated memory management behaviors, and
program operation, the attacker might be able to influence the contents of
the uninitialized pointer, thus gaining more fine-grained control of the
memory location to be accessed.
Applicable PlatformsNone
Common Consequences
Scope | Technical Impact | Notes |
---|
Confidentiality | Read memory | If the uninitialized pointer is used in a read operation, an attacker
might be able to read sensitive portions of memory. |
Availability | DoS: crash / exit /
restart | If the uninitialized pointer references a memory location that is not
accessible to the program, or points to a location that is "malformed"
(such as NULL) or larger than expected by a read or write operation,
then a crash may occur. |
IntegrityConfidentialityAvailability | Execute unauthorized code or
commands | If the uninitialized pointer is used in a function call, or points to
unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be
possible. |
Detection MethodsNone
Potential MitigationsNone
Relationships
Related CWE | Type | View | Chain |
---|
CWE-824 CanPrecede CWE-787 | Weakness | CWE-1000 | |
Demonstrative ExamplesNone
Observed Examples
- CVE-2010-0211 : chain: unchecked return value (CWE-252) leads to free of invalid, uninitialized pointer (CWE-824).
- CVE-2009-2768 : Pointer in structure is not initialized, leading to NULL pointer dereference (CWE-476) and system crash.
- CVE-2009-1721 : Free of an uninitialized pointer.
- CVE-2009-1415 : Improper handling of invalid signatures leads to free of invalid pointer.
- CVE-2009-0846 : Invalid encoding triggers free of uninitialized pointer.
- CVE-2009-0040 : Crafted PNG image leads to free of uninitialized pointer.
- CVE-2008-2934 : Crafted GIF image leads to free of uninitialized pointer.
- CVE-2007-4682 : Access of uninitialized pointer might lead to code execution.
- CVE-2007-4639 : Step-based manipulation: invocation of debugging function before the primary initialization function leads to access of an uninitialized pointer and code execution.
- CVE-2007-4000 : Unchecked return values can lead to a write to an uninitialized pointer.
- CVE-2007-2442 : zero-length input leads to free of uninitialized pointer.
- CVE-2007-1213 : Crafted font leads to uninitialized function pointer.
- CVE-2006-6143 : Uninitialized function pointer in freed memory is invoked
- CVE-2006-4175 : LDAP server mishandles malformed BER queries, leading to free of uninitialized memory
- CVE-2006-0054 : Firewall can crash with certain ICMP packets that trigger access of an uninitialized pointer.
- CVE-2003-1201 : LDAP server does not initialize members of structs, which leads to free of uninitialized pointer if an LDAP request fails.
For more examples, refer to CVE relations in the bottom box.
White Box Definitions None
Black Box Definitions None
Taxynomy MappingsNone
References:
- Mark Dowd John McDonald Justin Schuh .The Art of Software Security Assessment 1st Edition. Addison Wesley. Section:'Chapter 7, "Variable Initialization", Page
312.'. Published on 2006.