CWE-454 — External Initialization of Trusted Variables or Data Stores
CWE-454: External Initialization of Trusted Variables or Data Stores
MITRE CWE weakness
| Kind | Weakness |
| Abstraction | Base |
| Status | Draft |
| Likelihood of exploit | — |
Description
The product initializes critical internal variables or data stores using inputs that can be modified by untrusted actors.
A product system should be reluctant to trust variables that have been initialized outside of its trust boundary, especially if they are initialized by users. The variables may have been initialized incorrectly. If an attacker can initialize the variable, then they can influence what the vulnerable system will do.
Common consequences
- Integrity: Modify Application Data
Mitigations
Implementation — A product system should be reluctant to trust variables that have been initialized outside of its trust boundary. Ensure adequate checking (e.g. input validation) is performed when relying on input from outside a trust boundary.
Architecture and Design — Avoid any external control of variables. If necessary, restrict the variables that can be modified using an allowlist, and use a different namespace or naming convention if possible.
References
- CWE page: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/454.html
- CWE list: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/index.html