The application has a form field that is not validated by a
corresponding validation form, which can introduce other weaknesses related to
insufficient input validation.
Time of Introduction
Implementation
Applicable Platforms
Languages
Java
Potential Mitigations
Phase
Description
Ensure that you validate all form fields. If a field is unused, it is
still important to constrain them so that they are empty or
undefined.
Other Notes
Omitting validation for even a single input field may give attackers the
leeway they need to compromise your application. Unchecked input is the root
cause of some of today's worst and most common software security problems.
Cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and process control vulnerabilities can
stem from incomplete or absent input validation. Although J2EE applications
are not generally susceptible to memory corruption attacks, if a J2EE
application interfaces with native code that does not perform array bounds
checking, an attacker may be able to use an input validation mistake in the
J2EE application to launch a buffer overflow attack. Some applications use
the same ActionForm for more than one purpose. In situations like this, some
fields may go unused under some action mappings. It is critical that unused
fields be validated too. Preferably, unused fields should be constrained so
that they can only be empty or undefined. If unused fields are not
validated, shared business logic in an action may allow attackers to bypass
the validation checks that are performed for other uses of the form.
Weakness Ordinalities
Ordinality
Description
Primary
(where the
weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)