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CWE-353: Failure to Add Integrity Check Value

 
Failure to Add Integrity Check Value
Weakness ID: 353 (Weakness Base)Status: Draft
+ Description

Description Summary

If integrity check values or "checksums" are omitted from a protocol, there is no way of determining if data has been corrupted in transmission.

Extended Description

The failure to include checksum functionality in a protocol removes the first application-level check of data that can be used. The end-to-end philosophy of checks states that integrity checks should be performed at the lowest level that they can be completely implemented. Excluding further sanity checks and input validation performed by applications, the protocol's checksum is the most important level of checksum, since it can be performed more completely than at any previous level and takes into account entire messages, as opposed to single packets. Failure to add this functionality to a protocol specification, or in the implementation of that protocol, needlessly ignores a simple solution for a very significant problem and should never be skipped.

+ Time of Introduction
  • Architecture and Design
  • Implementation
+ Applicable Platforms

Languages

All

+ Common Consequences
ScopeEffect
Integrity

Data that is parsed and used may be corrupted.

Non-Repudiation

Without a checksum it is impossible to determine if any changes have been made to the data after it was sent.

+ Likelihood of Exploit

Medium

+ Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

C and C++
int r,s;struct hostent *h;
struct sockaddr_in rserv,lserv;
h=gethostbyname("127.0.0.1");
rserv.sin_family=h->h_addrtype;
memcpy((char *) &rserv.sin_addr.s_addr, h->h_addr_list[0], h->h_length);
rserv.sin_port= htons(1008);
s = socket(AF_INET,SOCK_DGRAM,0);
lserv.sin_family = AF_INET;
lserv.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);
lserv.sin_port = htons(0);
r = bind(s, (struct sockaddr *) &lserv,sizeof(lserv));
sendto(s,important_data,strlen(important_data)+1,0, (struct sockaddr *) &rserv, sizeof(rserv));
while(true) {
DatagramPacket rp=new DatagramPacket(rData,rData.length);
outSock.receive(rp);
String in = new String(p.getData(),0, rp.getLength());
InetAddress IPAddress = rp.getAddress();
int port = rp.getPort();
out = secret.getBytes();
DatagramPacket sp =new DatagramPacket(out,out.length,
IPAddress, port);
outSock.send(sp);
}
+ Potential Mitigations
PhaseDescription
Architecture and Design

Add an appropriately sized checksum to the protocol, ensuring that data received may be simply validated before it is parsed and used.

Implementation

Ensure that the checksums present in the protocol design are properly implemented and added to each message before it is sent.

+ Relationships
NatureTypeIDNameView(s) this relationship pertains toView(s)
ChildOfWeakness ClassWeakness Class345Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity
Development Concepts (primary)699
Research Concepts (primary)1000
PeerOfWeakness BaseWeakness Base354Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value
Research Concepts1000
+ Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy NameNode IDFitMapped Node Name
CLASPFailure to add integrity check value
+ Content History
Submissions
Submission DateSubmitterOrganizationSource
CLASPExternally Mined
Modifications
Modification DateModifierOrganizationSource
2008-07-01Eric DalciCigitalExternal
updated Time of Introduction
2008-09-08CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Common Consequences, Relationships, Other Notes, Taxonomy Mappings
2009-10-29CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Description, Other Notes
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Page Last Updated: October 29, 2009
 

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