CWE-280 Base Brouillon

Improper Handling of Insufficient Permissions or Privileges

This vulnerability occurs when a system fails to properly manage situations where it lacks the necessary permissions to perform an action or access a resource. This flawed handling can force the…

Définition

What is CWE-280?

This vulnerability occurs when a system fails to properly manage situations where it lacks the necessary permissions to perform an action or access a resource. This flawed handling can force the application into unintended states or error paths, potentially leading to crashes, data corruption, or security bypasses.
At its core, this weakness is about poor error handling for authorization checks. Instead of gracefully denying access and logging the event, the application might try to proceed with insufficient rights, triggering unexpected behavior in the code. This often stems from assuming permissions will always be sufficient or from catching a broad exception without specifically managing access-denied errors. For developers, the risk is that these unhandled permission failures create unstable conditions. The application could expose internal errors to users, corrupt its own state, or inadvertently allow actions it shouldn't. To prevent this, explicitly validate permissions before acting and implement robust, specific error handlers for authorization failures that safely guide the application back to a secure, valid state.
Impact réel

Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-280

  • Special file system allows attackers to prevent ownership/permission change of certain entries by opening the entries before calling a setuid program.

  • FTP server places a user in the root directory when the user's permissions prevent access to the their own home directory.

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-280

  • Architecture and Design Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area. Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.
  • Implementation Always check to see if you have successfully accessed a resource or system functionality, and use proper error handling if it is unsuccessful. Do this even when you are operating in a highly privileged mode, because errors or environmental conditions might still cause a failure. For example, environments with highly granular permissions/privilege models, such as Windows or Linux capabilities, can cause unexpected failures.
Signaux de détection

How to detect CWE-280

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-280 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.

Questions fréquentes

Frequently asked questions

Qu'est-ce que CWE-280 ?

This vulnerability occurs when a system fails to properly manage situations where it lacks the necessary permissions to perform an action or access a resource. This flawed handling can force the application into unintended states or error paths, potentially leading to crashes, data corruption, or security bypasses.

Quelle est la gravité de CWE-280 ?

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-280 ?

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-280 ?

Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area. Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to…

Comment Plexicus détecte et corrige CWE-280 ?

Le moteur SAST de Plexicus reconnaît la signature de flux de données de CWE-280 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-280 ?

MITRE publie la définition canonique à https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/280.html. Vous pouvez également consulter la documentation OWASP et NIST pour des conseils adjacents.

Faiblesses associées

Weaknesses related to CWE-280

CWE-755 Parent

Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions

This vulnerability occurs when software fails to properly manage unexpected situations or errors, leaving it in an unstable or insecure…

CWE-209 Frère

Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information

This vulnerability occurs when an application reveals sensitive details about its internal systems, user data, or environment within error…

CWE-248 Frère

Uncaught Exception

This vulnerability occurs when a function throws an error or exception, but the calling code does not have a proper handler to catch and…

CWE-274 Frère

Improper Handling of Insufficient Privileges

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly manage situations where it lacks the necessary permissions to execute an…

CWE-333 Frère

Improper Handling of Insufficient Entropy in TRNG

This vulnerability occurs when a system fails to properly manage the limited or unpredictable output rate of a true random number…

CWE-390 Frère

Detection of Error Condition Without Action

This weakness occurs when software successfully identifies an error condition but then fails to take any meaningful action to address it.…

CWE-392 Frère

Missing Report of Error Condition

This vulnerability occurs when a system fails to properly signal that an error has happened. Instead of returning a clear error code,…

CWE-395 Frère

Use of NullPointerException Catch to Detect NULL Pointer Dereference

Using a try-catch block for NullPointerException as a substitute for proper null checks is an anti-pattern. This approach masks the root…

CWE-396 Frère

Declaration of Catch for Generic Exception

This weakness occurs when code catches a generic exception type like 'Exception' or 'Throwable', which can hide specific errors and create…

Prêt quand vous l'êtes

Arrêtez de payer par développeur.
Commencez à fermer la boucle.

Plexicus est l'ASPM natif IA qui scanne, filtre, corrige, penteste et explique — de façon autonome. Développeurs illimités, dépôts illimités, actions IA à usage équitable. Vrai niveau gratuit, €269/mo annuel quand vous êtes prêt.