CWE-230: Improper Handling of Missing Values
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Edit Custom FilterThe product does not handle or incorrectly handles when a parameter, field, or argument name is specified, but the associated value is missing, i.e. it is empty, blank, or null.
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![]() Languages Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence) Example 1 This Android application has registered to handle a URL when sent an intent: (bad code)
Example Language: Java
... IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter("com.example.URLHandler.openURL"); MyReceiver receiver = new MyReceiver(); registerReceiver(receiver, filter); ... public class UrlHandlerReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver { @Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) { if("com.example.URLHandler.openURL".equals(intent.getAction())) {
String URL = intent.getStringExtra("URLToOpen");
int length = URL.length(); ... } The application assumes the URL will always be included in the intent. When the URL is not present, the call to getStringExtra() will return null, thus causing a null pointer exception when length() is called.
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Research Gap
Some "crash by port scan" bugs are probably due to this, but lack of diagnosis makes it difficult to be certain.
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