CWE - CWE-837: Improper Enforcement of a Single, Unique Action (4.13)

Weakness ID: 837

Abstraction: Base
Structure: Simple

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Description

The product requires that an actor should only be able to perform an action once, or to have only one unique action, but the product does not enforce or improperly enforces this restriction.

Extended Description

In various applications, a user is only expected to perform a certain action once, such as voting, requesting a refund, or making a purchase. When this restriction is not enforced, sometimes this can have security implications. For example, in a voting application, an attacker could attempt to "stuff the ballot box" by voting multiple times. If these votes are counted separately, then the attacker could directly affect who wins the vote. This could have significant business impact depending on the purpose of the product.

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.	799	Improper Control of Interaction Frequency

Relevant to the view "Software Development" (CWE-699)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	438	Behavioral Problems
MemberOf	Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	840	Business Logic Errors

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.

Languages

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

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
Other	Technical Impact: Varies by Context An attacker might be able to gain advantage over other users by performing the action multiple times, or affect the correctness of the product.

Observed Examples

Reference	Description
CVE-2008-0294	Ticket-booking web application allows a user to lock a seat more than once.
CVE-2005-4051	CMS allows people to rate downloads by voting more than once.
CVE-2002-216	Polling software allows people to vote more than once by setting a cookie.
CVE-2003-1433	Chain: lack of validation of a challenge key in a game allows a player to register multiple times and lock other players out of the game.
CVE-2002-1018	Library feature allows attackers to check out the same e-book multiple times, preventing other users from accessing copies of the e-book.
CVE-2009-2346	Protocol implementation allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (call-number exhaustion) by initiating many message exchanges.

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.	1410	Comprehensive Categorization: Insufficient Control Flow Management

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Usage: Allowed

(this CWE ID could be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)

Reason: Acceptable-Use

Rationale:

This CWE entry is at the Base 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.

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2011-03-24 (CWE 1.12, 2011-03-30)	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2011-03-24 (CWE 1.12, 2011-03-30)
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
2012-05-11	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2012-05-11	updated Observed_Examples
2020-02-24	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020-02-24	updated Relationships
2023-01-31	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023-01-31	updated Common_Consequences, Description
2023-04-27	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023-04-27	updated Relationships
2023-06-29	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023-06-29	updated Mapping_Notes
2023-10-26	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023-10-26	updated Common_Consequences


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Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-837: Improper Enforcement of a Single, Unique Action

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