CWE-914

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 Incomplete 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
Improper Control of Dynamically-Identified Variables

Description

The product does not properly restrict reading from or writing to dynamically-identified variables.

Many languages offer powerful features that allow the programmer to access arbitrary variables that are specified by an input string. While these features can offer significant flexibility and reduce development time, they can be extremely dangerous if attackers can modify unintended variables that have security implications.

Consequences

Integrity — Modify Application Data

An attacker could modify sensitive data or program variables.

Integrity — Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
Other, Integrity — Varies by Context, Alter Execution Logic

Mitigations

Phase: Implementation

For any externally-influenced input, check the input against an allowlist of internal program variables that are allowed to be modified.

Phase: Implementation, Architecture and Design

Refactor the code so that internal program variables do not need to be dynamically identified.