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CWE-484

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CWE-484

Omitted Break Statement in Switch

Base
Draft

Description

The product omits a break statement within a switch or similar construct, causing code associated with multiple conditions to execute. This can cause problems when the programmer only intended to execute code associated with one condition.

This can lead to critical code executing in situations where it should not.

Common Consequences

Scope

Other

Impact

Alter Execution Logic

Potential Mitigations

Implementation

Omitting a break statement so that one may fall through is often indistinguishable from an error, and therefore should be avoided. If you need to use fall-through capabilities, make sure that you have clearly documented this within the switch statement, and ensure that you have examined all the logical possibilities.

Implementation

The functionality of omitting a break statement could be clarified with an if statement. This method is much safer.

Applicable Platforms

C
C++
Java
C#
PHP
Not Language-Specific

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