CWE-783

Base Abstraction Level
Pillar — Highest-level weakness category
Class — Abstract, language-independent
Base — Specific enough to detect
Variant — Tied to specific technology
Compound — Requires multiple weaknesses Draft MITRE CWE Status
Stable — Fully reviewed and complete
Draft — Under development, may change
Incomplete — Partially defined by MITRE
Deprecated — No longer recommended
Obsolete — Replaced by another CWE Exploit: Low
Operator Precedence Logic Error

Description

The product uses an expression in which operator precedence causes incorrect logic to be used.

While often just a bug, operator precedence logic errors can have serious consequences if they are used in security-critical code, such as making an authentication decision.

Top Monitored CVEs

CVE-2024-32896
HIGH KEV
7.8 3.0%
2024-06-13

Consequences

Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability — Varies by Context, Unexpected State

The consequences will vary based on the context surrounding the incorrect precedence. In a security decision, integrity or confidentiality are the most likely results. Otherwise, a crash may occur due to the software reaching an unexpected state.

Mitigations

Phase: Implementation

Regularly wrap sub-expressions in parentheses, especially in security-critical code.

Detection

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.)