CWE-588: Attempt to Access Child of a Non-structure Pointer
Weakness ID: 588
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
Casting a non-structure type to a structure type and accessing a field can lead to memory access errors or data corruption.
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 and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user may want to explore.
Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (CWE-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.
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
Note
Implementation
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.
Scope
Impact
Likelihood
Integrity
Technical Impact: Modify Memory
Adjacent variables in memory may be corrupted by assignments performed on fields after the cast.
JSON decoder accesses a C union using an invalid offset to an object
Potential Mitigations
Phase: Requirements
The choice could be made to use a language that is not susceptible to these issues.
Phase: Implementation
Review of type casting operations can identify locations where incompatible types are cast.
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
Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.
(this CWE ID could 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
Software Fault Patterns
SFP7
Faulty Pointer Use
Content History
Submissions
Submission Date
Submitter
Organization
2006-12-15 (CWE Draft 5, 2006-12-15)
CWE Community
Submitted by members of the CWE community to extend early CWE versions
Modifications
Modification Date
Modifier
Organization
2008-07-01
Eric Dalci
Cigital
updated Time_of_Introduction
2008-09-08
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Relationships, Other_Notes
2009-03-10
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Relationships
2009-07-27
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Common_Consequences, Other_Notes
2011-06-01
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Common_Consequences
2012-05-11
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Relationships
2012-10-30
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Potential_Mitigations
2014-07-30
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2017-11-08
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Demonstrative_Examples
2023-04-27
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Relationships, Time_of_Introduction
2023-06-29
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Mapping_Notes
2023-10-26
CWE Content Team
MITRE
updated Observed_Examples
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Description
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.
