CWE - CWE-110: Struts: Validator Without Form Field (4.4)

Weakness ID: 110

Abstraction: Variant
Structure: Simple

Status: Draft

Presentation Filter:

Description

Validation fields that do not appear in forms they are associated with indicate that the validation logic is out of date.

Extended Description

It is easy for developers to forget to update validation logic when they make changes to an ActionForm class. One indication that validation logic is not being properly maintained is inconsistencies between the action form and the validation form.

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.

Relationships

The table(s) below shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOf and give insight to similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such as PeerOf and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user may want to explore.

Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (CWE-1000)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
ChildOf	Pillar - a weakness that is the most abstract type of weakness and represents a theme for all class/base/variant weaknesses related to it. A Pillar is different from a Category as a Pillar is still technically a type of weakness that describes a mistake, while a Category represents a common characteristic used to group related things.	710	Improper Adherence to Coding Standards

Relevant to the view "Seven Pernicious Kingdoms" (CWE-700)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
ChildOf	Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.	20	Improper Input Validation

Modes Of Introduction

The different Modes of Introduction provide information about how and when this weakness may be introduced. The Phase identifies a point in the life cycle at which introduction may occur, while the Note provides a typical scenario related to introduction during the given phase.

Phase	Note
Implementation
Operation

Applicable Platforms

The listings below show possible areas for which the given weakness could appear. These may be for specific named Languages, Operating Systems, Architectures, Paradigms, Technologies, or a class of such platforms. The platform is listed along with how frequently the given weakness appears for that instance.

Languages

Java (Undetermined Prevalence)

Common Consequences

The table below specifies different individual consequences associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to achieve a different impact.

Scope	Impact	Likelihood
Other	Technical Impact: Other It is critically important that validation logic be maintained and kept in sync with the rest of the 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 all stem from incomplete or absent input validation.

Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

This example shows an inconsistency between an action form and a validation form. with a third field.

This first block of code shows an action form that has two fields, startDate and endDate.

(bad code)

Example Language: Java

public class DateRangeForm extends ValidatorForm {

String startDate, endDate;

public void setStartDate(String startDate) {

this.startDate = startDate;

}

public void setEndDate(String endDate) {

this.endDate = endDate;

}

This second block of related code shows a validation form with a third field: scale. The presence of the third field suggests that DateRangeForm was modified without taking validation into account.

(bad code)

Example Language: XML

</field>
<field property="endDate" depends="date">

</field>
<field property="scale" depends="integer">

</field>

</form>

Weakness Ordinalities

Ordinality	Description
Primary	(where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)

Detection Methods

Automated Static Analysis

To find the issue in the implementation, manual checks or automated static analysis could be applied to the XML configuration files.

Effectiveness: Moderate

Manual Static Analysis

To find the issue in the implementation, manual checks or automated static analysis could be applied to the XML configuration files.

Effectiveness: Moderate

Memberships

This MemberOf Relationships table shows additional CWE Categories and Views that reference this weakness as a member. This information is often useful in understanding where a weakness fits within the context of external information sources.

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	990	SFP Secondary Cluster: Tainted Input to Command

Taxonomy Mappings

Mapped Taxonomy Name	Node ID	Fit	Mapped Node Name
7 Pernicious Kingdoms			Struts: Validator Without Form Field
Software Fault Patterns	SFP24		Tainted input to command

References

[REF-6] Katrina Tsipenyuk, Brian Chess and Gary McGraw. "Seven Pernicious Kingdoms: A Taxonomy of Software Security Errors". NIST Workshop on Software Security Assurance Tools Techniques and Metrics. NIST. 2005-11-07. <https://samate.nist.gov/SSATTM_Content/papers/Seven%20Pernicious%20Kingdoms%20-%20Taxonomy%20of%20Sw%20Security%20Errors%20-%20Tsipenyuk%20-%20Chess%20-%20McGraw.pdf>.

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2006-07-19	7 Pernicious Kingdoms
2006-07-19
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
2008-07-01	Eric Dalci	Cigital
2008-07-01	updated Potential_Mitigations, Time_of_Introduction
2008-09-08	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008-09-08	updated Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings, Weakness_Ordinalities
2008-11-24	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008-11-24	updated Common_Consequences, Description, Other_Notes
2009-07-27	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2009-07-27	updated Demonstrative_Examples
2011-06-01	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2011-06-01	updated Common_Consequences
2012-05-11	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2012-05-11	updated Relationships
2013-02-21	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2013-02-21	updated Potential_Mitigations
2014-06-23	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014-06-23	updated Description, Other_Notes
2014-07-30	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014-07-30	updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2017-11-08	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2017-11-08	updated Causal_Nature, Demonstrative_Examples, Detection_Factors, Potential_Mitigations, Relationships
2020-02-24	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020-02-24	updated References, Relationships


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Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-110: Struts: Validator Without Form Field