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CWE-786 — Access of Memory Location Before Start of Buffer

provenance: imported · CWE: CWE-786

CWE-786: Access of Memory Location Before Start of Buffer

MITRE CWE weakness

Kind Weakness
Abstraction Base
Status Incomplete
Likelihood of exploit

Description

The product reads or writes to a buffer using an index or pointer that references a memory location prior to the beginning of the buffer.

This typically occurs when a pointer or its index is decremented to a position before the buffer, when pointer arithmetic results in a position before the beginning of the valid memory location, or when a negative index is used.

Common consequences

  • Confidentiality: Read Memory
  • Integrity, Availability: Modify Memory, DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
  • Integrity: Modify Memory, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

Mitigations

(none listed)

References

  • CWE page: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/786.html
  • CWE list: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/index.html