CWE-267: Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions
Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions
Weakness ID: 267 (Weakness Base) Status: Incomplete
Description
Description Summary
A particular privilege, role, capability, or right can be used
to perform unsafe actions that were not intended, even when it is assigned to
the correct entity.
Time of Introduction
Architecture and Design
Implementation
Operation
Observed Examples
Reference Description CVE-2002-1981 Roles have access to dangerous procedures
(Accessible entities). CVE-2002-1671 Untrusted object/method gets access to clipboard
(Accessible entities). CVE-2004-2204 Gain privileges using functions/tags that should
be restricted (Accessible entities). CVE-2000-0315 Traceroute program allows unprivileged users to
modify source address of packet (Accessible
entities). CVE-2004-0380 Bypass domain restrictions using a particular file
that references unsafe URI schemes (Accessible
entities). CVE-2002-1154 Script does not restrict access to an update
command, leading to resultant disk consumption and filled error logs
(Accessible entities). CVE-2002-1145 "public" database user can use stored procedure to
modify data controlled by the database owner (Unsafe privileged
actions). CVE-2000-0506 User with capability can prevent setuid program
from dropping privileges (Unsafe privileged
actions). CVE-2002-2042 Allows attachment to and modification of
privileged processes (Unsafe privileged
actions). CVE-2000-1212 User with privilege can edit raw underlying object
using unprotected method (Unsafe privileged
actions). CVE-2005-1742 Inappropriate actions allowed by a particular
role(Unsafe privileged actions). CVE-2001-1480 Untrusted entity allowed to access the system
clipboard (Unsafe privileged actions). CVE-2001-1551 Extra Linux capability allows bypass of
system-specified restriction (Unsafe privileged
actions). CVE-2001-1166 User with debugging rights can read entire process
(Unsafe privileged actions). CVE-2005-1816 Non-root admins can add themselves or others to
the root admin group (Unsafe privileged
actions). CVE-2005-2173 Users can change certain properties of objects to
perform otherwise unauthorized actions (Unsafe privileged
actions). CVE-2005-2027 Certain debugging commands not restricted to just
the administrator, allowing registry modification and infoleak (Unsafe
privileged actions).
Potential Mitigations
ID Phase Description 1 Very carefully manage the setting, management and handling of
privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights
to entities in a software system.
Relationships
Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy Name Node ID Fit Mapped Node Name PLOVER Unsafe Privilege
Maintenance Notes
This overlaps authorization and access control problems.
Note: there are 2 separate sub-categories here:
- privilege incorrectly allows entities to perform certain
actions
- object is incorrectly accessible to entities with a given
privilege
Content History
Submissions Submission Date Submitter Organization Source PLOVER Externally Mined Modifications Modification Date Modifier Organization Source 2008-07-01 Eric Dalci Cigital External updated Time of Introduction 2008-09-08 CWE Content Team MITRE Internal updated Description, Maintenance Notes, Relationships,
Taxonomy Mappings 2008-11-24 CWE Content Team MITRE Internal updated Relationships
Description
