CWE-132: DEPRECATED: Miscalculated Null Termination
Learn about CWE-132 (DEPRECATED: Miscalculated Null Termination), its security impact, exploitation methods, and prevention guidelines.
What is DEPRECATED: Miscalculated Null Termination?
• Overview:
- CWE-132, "Miscalculated Null Termination," is deprecated and was identified to be a duplicate of CWE-170. It pertained to issues related to incorrect handling of null termination in strings, which could lead to vulnerabilities such as buffer overflows or information leaks.
• Exploitation Methods:
- Attackers could exploit miscalculated null termination by crafting input that causes a program to read or write beyond the intended buffer, leading to buffer overflow.
- Common attack patterns include inputting overly long strings or manipulating input data to bypass length checks, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution or memory disclosure.
• Security Impact:
- Direct consequences of successful exploitation include unauthorized access to memory, which can lead to data corruption, crashes, or execution of malicious code.
- Potential cascading effects may involve privilege escalation or the compromise of other systems that interact with the vulnerable application.
- Business impact includes data breaches, loss of customer trust, legal liabilities, and financial losses due to system downtime or remediation efforts.
• Prevention Guidelines:
- Ensure proper null termination by using safe string handling functions that automatically manage buffer sizes, such as
strncpy_sorstrlcpy. - Adopt security best practices like input validation, rigorous testing, and code reviews to detect and eliminate vulnerabilities.
- Utilize recommended tools and frameworks that enforce secure coding standards and provide automated checks for buffer handling issues, such as static analysis tools.
Technical Details
Likelihood of Exploit: Not specified
Affected Languages: Not specified
Affected Technologies: Not specified