CWE-144 Variante Brouillon

Improper Neutralization of Line Delimiters

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly sanitize or escape line break characters (like newline or carriage return) in user-supplied input before passing that data to another…

Définition

What is CWE-144?

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly sanitize or escape line break characters (like newline or carriage return) in user-supplied input before passing that data to another system or component.
Line delimiters, such as \n or \r\n, are special characters that structure data by marking the end of a line. When an attacker can inject these characters into input fields, they can manipulate how downstream systems—like log parsers, configuration files, or data processors—interpret the data stream. This can trick the receiving component into processing malicious content as separate commands or records, leading to data corruption, security bypasses, or unintended system behavior. In practice, this flaw often manifests when an application blindly trusts input without validation. For example, an attacker might inject a newline into a form field that gets written to a log file, later causing a log analysis tool to misinterpret entries. To prevent this, developers must treat all line-breaking characters as control elements, not data, and implement strict input validation and output encoding specific to the context where the data will be used.
Impact réel

Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-144

  • CVE-2002-0267

    Linebreak in field of PHP script allows admin privileges when written to data file.

Comment les attaquants l'exploitent

Parcours de l'attaquant étape par étape

  1. 1

    Identifier un chemin de code qui traite des entrées non fiables sans validation.

  2. 2

    Élaborer une charge utile qui exploite le comportement non sécurisé — injection, traversal, débordement ou abus de logique.

  3. 3

    Délivrer la charge utile via une requête normale et observer la réaction de l'application.

  4. 4

    Itérer jusqu'à ce que la réponse divulgue des données, exécute le code de l'attaquant ou élève les privilèges.

Exemple de code vulnérable

Vulnerable pseudo

MITRE n'a pas publié d'exemple de code pour ce CWE. Le motif ci-dessous est illustratif — voir Ressources pour les références canoniques.

Vulnérable pseudo 
// Example pattern — see MITRE for the canonical references.
function handleRequest(input) {
  // Untrusted input flows directly into the sensitive sink.
  return executeUnsafe(input);
}
Exemple de code sécurisé

Secure pseudo

Sécurisé pseudo 
// Validate, sanitize, or use a safe API before reaching the sink.
function handleRequest(input) {
  const safe = validateAndEscape(input);
  return executeWithGuards(safe);
}
What changed: the unsafe sink is replaced (or the input is validated/escaped) so the same payload no longer triggers the weakness.
Liste de contrôle de prévention

How to prevent CWE-144

  • Developers should anticipate that line delimiters will be injected/removed/manipulated in the input vectors of their product. Use an appropriate combination of denylists and allowlists to ensure only valid, expected and appropriate input is processed by the system.
  • Implementation Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue." Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
  • Implementation While it is risky to use dynamically-generated query strings, code, or commands that mix control and data together, sometimes it may be unavoidable. Properly quote arguments and escape any special characters within those arguments. The most conservative approach is to escape or filter all characters that do not pass an extremely strict allowlist (such as everything that is not alphanumeric or white space). If some special characters are still needed, such as white space, wrap each argument in quotes after the escaping/filtering step. Be careful of argument injection (CWE-88).
  • Implementation Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174). Such errors could be used to bypass allowlist validation schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked.
Signaux de détection

How to detect CWE-144

SAST High

Exécuter une analyse statique (SAST) sur le code source à la recherche du motif non sécurisé dans le flux de données.

DAST Moderate

Exécuter des tests de sécurité applicative dynamique (DAST) contre le point de terminaison en ligne.

Runtime Moderate

Surveiller les journaux runtime pour détecter des traces d'exception inhabituelles, des entrées malformées ou des tentatives de contournement d'autorisation.

Code review Moderate

Revue de code : signaler tout nouveau code qui traite les entrées de cette surface sans utiliser les helpers du framework validés.

Correction automatique Plexicus

Plexicus détecte automatiquement CWE-144 et ouvre une PR de correction en moins de 60 secondes.

Codex Remedium analyse chaque commit, identifie cette faiblesse précise et livre une pull request prête à être relue avec le correctif. Pas de tickets. Pas de transferts.

Obtenir une démo Essayer Plexicus gratuitement
Questions fréquentes

Frequently asked questions

Qu'est-ce que CWE-144 ?

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly sanitize or escape line break characters (like newline or carriage return) in user-supplied input before passing that data to another system or component.

Quelle est la gravité de CWE-144 ?

MITRE n'a pas publié de note de probabilité d'exploitation pour cette faiblesse. Traitez-la comme un impact moyen jusqu'à ce que votre modèle de menace prouve le contraire.

Quels langages ou plateformes sont affectés par CWE-144 ?

MITRE n'a pas spécifié les plateformes affectées pour ce CWE — il peut s'appliquer à la plupart des stacks applicatives.

Comment puis-je prévenir CWE-144 ?

Developers should anticipate that line delimiters will be injected/removed/manipulated in the input vectors of their product. Use an appropriate combination of denylists and allowlists to ensure only valid, expected and appropriate input is processed by the system. Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications,…

Comment Plexicus détecte et corrige CWE-144 ?

Le moteur SAST de Plexicus reconnaît la signature de flux de données de CWE-144 à chaque commit. Lorsqu'une correspondance est trouvée, notre agent Codex Remedium ouvre une PR de correction avec le code corrigé, les tests et un résumé d'une ligne pour le relecteur.

Où puis-je en savoir plus sur CWE-144 ?

MITRE publie la définition canonique à https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/144.html. Vous pouvez également consulter la documentation OWASP et NIST pour des conseils adjacents.

Faiblesses associées

Weaknesses related to CWE-144

CWE-140 Parent

Improper Neutralization of Delimiters

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly handle or sanitize delimiter characters within data inputs, allowing them…

CWE-141 Frère

Improper Neutralization of Parameter/Argument Delimiters

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly sanitize special characters that act as delimiters in data being passed…

CWE-142 Frère

Improper Neutralization of Value Delimiters

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly sanitize or escape special characters that act as data separators…

CWE-143 Frère

Improper Neutralization of Record Delimiters

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly sanitize or escape special characters that function as record separators…

CWE-145 Frère

Improper Neutralization of Section Delimiters

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly sanitize or validate special characters that act as section delimiters in…

CWE-146 Frère

Improper Neutralization of Expression/Command Delimiters

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly sanitize input that contains special characters used as delimiters in…

CWE-93 Pair

Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences ('CRLF Injection')

This vulnerability occurs when an application uses carriage return and line feed characters (CRLF) to structure data, like separating…

Ressources

Further reading

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