CWE-282: Improper Ownership Management

What is Improper Ownership Management?

• Overview: Improper Ownership Management (CWE-282) occurs when a software product incorrectly assigns ownership or fails to verify ownership of an object or resource, potentially allowing unauthorized users to access or modify critical resources.

• Exploitation Methods:

• Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by gaining unauthorized access to resources they shouldn't control.
• Common attack patterns include manipulating ownership attributes to escalate privileges or bypass access controls.

• Security Impact:

• Direct consequences include unauthorized access or modification of sensitive data and resources.
• Potential cascading effects include privilege escalation and broader system compromise.
• Business impact can involve data breaches, loss of customer trust, and legal liabilities.

• Prevention Guidelines:

• Specific code-level fixes include ensuring proper verification and assignment of ownership attributes during resource creation or modification.
• Security best practices involve implementing role-based access controls and regular audits of resource ownership.
• Recommended tools and frameworks include using security libraries that provide robust access control mechanisms and automated scanning tools to detect improper ownership settings.

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Technical Details

Likelihood of Exploit: Not specified

Affected Languages: Not Language-Specific

Affected Technologies: Not specified

Vulnerable Code Example

const fs = require('fs');

function changeFileOwner(filePath, newOwner, userId) {
    // Vulnerable code: allows any user to change file ownership without verification
    // This can lead to unauthorized users altering critical file ownership
    fs.chownSync(filePath, newOwner, -1);  // Arbitrary ownership change
    console.log(`File ownership of \${filePath} changed to \${newOwner} by user \${userId}`);
}

// Example usage
changeFileOwner('/path/to/important/file', 1001, 4000);  // An unauthorized user ID

How to fix Improper Ownership Management?

To fix this vulnerability, implement strict access control checks to ensure only authorized users can perform ownership changes. This involves verifying the user's identity and permissions before executing the operation. By incorporating these checks, unauthorized users are prevented from altering file ownership.

Fixed Code Example

const fs = require('fs');

function isAuthorized(userId) {
    // Check if the user is authorized (e.g., an admin)
    // In a real application, this would involve checking a database or an authentication system
    const authorizedUsers = [5000];  // List of user IDs who are admins
    return authorizedUsers.includes(userId);
}

function changeFileOwner(filePath, newOwner, userId) {
    if (!isAuthorized(userId)) {  // Ensure only authorized users can proceed
        throw new Error("User is not authorized to change file ownership");
    }
    
    // Safe operation: ownership change is performed only if the user is authorized
    fs.chownSync(filePath, newOwner, -1);
    console.log(`File ownership of \${filePath} changed to \${newOwner} by user \${userId}`);
}

// Example usage
try {
    changeFileOwner('/path/to/important/file', 1001, 5000);  // An authorized user ID
} catch (err) {
    console.error(err.message);
}

These examples demonstrate how to implement proper ownership management by incorporating authentication and authorization checks to ensure only authorized users can modify resources. The fixed code ensures that only predefined admin users can change file ownership, preventing unauthorized access.