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CWE

Incorrect Default Permissions

Description

The software, upon installation, sets incorrect permissions for an object that exposes it to an unintended actor.

Likelihood of Exploit: Medium

Applicable Platforms
Language Class: All

Time Of Introduction

Related Attack Patterns

Common Consequences

Scope	Technical Impact	Notes
Confidentiality Integrity	Read application data Modify application data

Detection Methods
None

Potential Mitigations

Phase	Strategy	Description	Effectiveness	Notes
Architecture and Design Operation		Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
Architecture and Design	Separation of Privilege	Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area. Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design and that the compartmentalization serves to allow for and further reinforce privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide when it is appropriate to use and to drop system privileges.

Relationships

Related CWE	Type	View	Chain
CWE-276 ChildOf CWE-899	Category	CWE-888

Demonstrative Examples
None

Observed Examples

CVE-2005-1941 : Executables installed world-writable.
CVE-2002-1713 : Home directories installed world-readable.
CVE-2001-1550 : World-writable log files allow information loss; world-readable file has cleartext passwords.
CVE-2002-1711 : World-readable directory.
CVE-2002-1844 : Windows product uses insecure permissions when installing on Solaris (genesis: port error).
CVE-2001-0497 : Insecure permissions for a shared secret key file. Overlaps cryptographic problem.
CVE-1999-0426 : Default permissions of a device allow IP spoofing.

For more examples, refer to CVE relations in the bottom box.

White Box Definitions
None

Black Box Definitions
None

Taxynomy Mappings

Taxynomy	Id	Name
PLOVER		Insecure Default Permissions
CERT C Secure Coding	FIO06-C	Create files with appropriate access permissions
CERT Java Secure Coding	FIO01-J	Create files with appropriate access permission
CERT C++ Secure Coding	FIO06-CPP	Create files with appropriate access permissions

References:

Mark Dowd John McDonald Justin Schuh .The Art of Software Security Assessment 1st Edition. Addison Wesley. Section:'Chapter 3, "Insecure Defaults", Page 69.'. Published on 2006.