CWE-785: Use of Path Manipulation Function without Maximum-sized Buffer
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Edit Custom FilterThe product invokes a function for normalizing paths or file names, but it provides an output buffer that is smaller than the maximum possible size, such as PATH_MAX.
Passing an inadequately-sized output buffer to a path manipulation function can result in a buffer overflow. Such functions include realpath(), readlink(), PathAppend(), and others.
This table 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.
This table 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)
Relevant to the view "Seven Pernicious Kingdoms" (CWE-700)
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.
This listing shows 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 C (Undetermined Prevalence) C++ (Undetermined Prevalence) Example 1 In this example the function creates a directory named "output\<name>" in the current directory and returns a heap-allocated copy of its name. (bad code)
Example Language: C
char *createOutputDirectory(char *name) {
char outputDirectoryName[128];
if (getCurrentDirectory(128, outputDirectoryName) == 0) { return null; }if (!PathAppend(outputDirectoryName, "output")) { return null; }if (!PathAppend(outputDirectoryName, name)) { return null; if (SHCreateDirectoryEx(NULL, outputDirectoryName, NULL) != ERROR_SUCCESS) { return null; return StrDup(outputDirectoryName); For most values of the current directory and the name parameter, this function will work properly. However, if the name parameter is particularly long, then the second call to PathAppend() could overflow the outputDirectoryName buffer, which is smaller than MAX_PATH bytes.
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.
Maintenance
This entry is at a much lower level of abstraction than most entries because it is function-specific. It also has significant overlap with other entries that can vary depending on the perspective. For example, incorrect usage could trigger either a stack-based overflow (CWE-121) or a heap-based overflow (CWE-122). The CWE team has not decided how to handle such entries.
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