CWE-1054: Invocation of a Control Element at an Unnecessarily Deep Horizontal Layer
Learn about CWE-1054 (Invocation of a Control Element at an Unnecessarily Deep Horizontal Layer), its security impact, exploitation methods, and prevention guidelines.
What is Invocation of a Control Element at an Unnecessarily Deep Horizontal Layer?
• Overview: The Invocation of a Control Element at an Unnecessarily Deep Horizontal Layer (CWE-1054) occurs when code from one architectural layer directly calls code in a layer deeper than the next immediate layer. This can happen outside of vertical utility layers that are meant to be accessed from any horizontal layer, leading to complex and tangled code structures.
• Exploitation Methods:
- Attackers may exploit this vulnerability by inserting malicious code into deeper layers that are improperly accessed, potentially bypassing important security controls in the skipped layers.
- Common attack patterns include exploiting confusion in code logic, gaining unauthorized access to data or functions, and introducing code vulnerabilities that are hard to detect due to the non-linear code flow.
• Security Impact:
- Direct consequences of successful exploitation include increased difficulty in understanding, maintaining, and auditing the code, which can lead to overlooked security flaws.
- Potential cascading effects involve making it easier to introduce new vulnerabilities due to the tangled code structure, resulting in higher maintenance costs and longer times to patch vulnerabilities.
- Business impact includes potential security breaches, data leaks, and increased costs in software maintenance and development cycles.
• Prevention Guidelines:
- Specific code-level fixes include ensuring that architectural layer boundaries are respected and that deeper layers are accessed only through their adjacent layers unless they are part of a designed utility layer.
- Security best practices involve adhering to clean architecture principles, such as separation of concerns and minimizing direct dependencies across non-adjacent layers.
- Recommended tools and frameworks include using code analysis tools that highlight architectural violations and adopting frameworks that enforce layer boundaries, like Domain-Driven Design or microservices architecture.
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Technical Details
Likelihood of Exploit: Not specified
Affected Languages: Not specified
Affected Technologies: Not specified