CWE-1114: Inappropriate Whitespace Style

What is Inappropriate Whitespace Style?

• Overview: Inappropriate Whitespace Style refers to inconsistent or non-standard use of whitespace in source code, making the code harder to read, understand, and maintain. This inconsistency can indirectly affect security by making it challenging to identify and fix vulnerabilities or by introducing new ones.

• Exploitation Methods:

• Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by inserting or hiding malicious code within poorly formatted sections, making it difficult to detect.
• Common attack patterns include using misleading indentation to alter the perceived logic of the code or hiding critical changes within whitespace discrepancies.

• Security Impact:

• Direct consequences include increased difficulty in auditing and reviewing code, potentially allowing vulnerabilities to go unnoticed.
• Potential cascading effects include the introduction of new vulnerabilities due to maintenance errors or misunderstandings of code logic.
• The business impact can involve increased costs for debugging and maintenance, as well as potential security breaches due to overlooked vulnerabilities.

• Prevention Guidelines:

• Specific code-level fixes include enforcing consistent whitespace usage through code style guidelines and reviews.
• Security best practices involve regular code audits and using code linters to detect and correct whitespace issues.
• Recommended tools and frameworks include static analysis tools and integrated development environments (IDEs) with built-in or plugin-based style enforcement features.

Corgea can automatically detect and fix Inappropriate Whitespace Style in your codebase. [Try Corgea free today](https://corgea.app).

Technical Details

Likelihood of Exploit: Not specified

Affected Languages: Not specified

Affected Technologies: Not specified