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CWE-123

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CWE-123

Write-what-where Condition

Base
Draft

Description

Any condition where the attacker has the ability to write an arbitrary value to an arbitrary location, often as the result of a buffer overflow.

Common Consequences

Scope

Integrity
Confidentiality
Availability
Access Control

Impact

Modify Memory, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Gain Privileges or Assume Identity, DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart, Bypass Protection Mechanism

Scope

Integrity
Availability

Impact

DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart, Modify Memory

Scope

Access Control
Other

Impact

Bypass Protection Mechanism, Other

Potential Mitigations

Architecture and Design

Use a language that provides appropriate memory abstractions.

Operation

Use OS-level preventative functionality integrated after the fact. Not a complete solution.

CVE-2019-19911

Chain: Python library does not limit the resources used to process images that specify a very large number of bands (CWE-1284), leading to excessive memory consumption (CWE-789) or an integer overflow (CWE-190).

CVE-2022-0545

Chain: 3D renderer has an integer overflow (CWE-190) leading to write-what-where condition (CWE-123) using a crafted image.

Applicable Platforms

Memory-Unsafe
C
C++

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