Vulnerability Mapping:ALLOWEDThis CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities Abstraction:
VariantVariant - a weakness that is linked to a certain type of product, typically involving a specific language or technology. More specific than a Base weakness. Variant level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 3 to 5 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.
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Description
A J2EE application uses System.exit().
Dimensions
The Dimensions table provides information about the
different dimensions associated with this weakness. The Type identifies the dimension type,
while the Value provides the specific value for that dimension.
Type
Value
Framework
J2EE
Other
Bad Practices
Behavior-Type
Use
Code-Type
System.exit()
Common Consequences
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.
Impact
Details
DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
Scope: Availability
Access to a function that can shut down the application is an avenue for Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, since use of System.exit() also shuts down the application's container.
Potential Mitigations
Phase(s)
Mitigation
Architecture and Design
Strategy: Separation of Privilege
The shutdown function should be a privileged function available only to a properly authorized administrative user.
Implementation
Web applications should not call methods that cause the virtual machine to exit, such as System.exit().
Implementation
Web applications should not throw any Throwables to the application server, as this may adversely affect the container.
Implementation
Non-web applications may have a main() method that contains a System.exit(), but generally should not call System.exit() from other locations in the code.
Relationships
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, Overlaps, and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user
may want to explore.
Relevant to the view "Complete Weakness Hierarchy" (View-1000)
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.
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(s)
Note
Implementation
A call to System.exit() is probably part of leftover debug code or code imported from a non-J2EE application.
Applicable Platforms
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.
Type
Applicable Platforms
Notes
Languages
Java
(Undetermined Prevalence)
Technologies
Class: Web Based
(Undetermined Prevalence)
Web Server
(Undetermined Prevalence)
Demonstrative Examples
Example 1
Included in the doPost() method defined below is a call to System.exit() in the event of a specific exception.
(bad code)
Example Language: Java
Public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
(where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)
Detection
Methods
Method
Details
Automated Static Analysis
Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)
Effectiveness: High
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
Grouping - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.
OWASP Top Ten 2025 Category A06:2025 - Insecure Design
Vulnerability Mapping Notes
Usage
ALLOWED
(this CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)
Reason
Acceptable-Use
Rationale
This CWE entry is at the Variant level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.
Comments
Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.
Taxonomy
Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy Name
Node ID
Fit
Mapped Node Name
7 Pernicious Kingdoms
J2EE Bad Practices: System.exit()
OWASP Top Ten 2004
A9
CWE More Specific
Denial of Service
The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011)
ERR09-J
Do not allow untrusted code to terminate the JVM
Software Fault Patterns
SFP3
Use of an improper API
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://cwe.mitre.org/documents/sources/SevenPerniciousKingdoms.pdf>.
Description
The Dimensions table provides information about the
different dimensions associated with this weakness. The Type identifies the dimension type,
while the Value provides the specific value for that dimension.
