CWE-390: Detection of Error Condition Without Action

What is Detection of Error Condition Without Action?

• Overview: Detection of Error Condition Without Action occurs when a software product identifies an error but does not perform any corrective or protective actions, leaving the system in a potentially unstable or vulnerable state.

• Exploitation Methods:

• Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by triggering known error conditions that are detected but not handled, potentially causing unintended behavior or resource exhaustion.
• Common attack patterns include inducing system crashes, data corruption, or denial of service through repeated triggering of unhandled errors.

• Security Impact:

• Direct consequences of successful exploitation include application crashes, resource leaks, or unexpected behavior.
• Potential cascading effects may involve system downtime, data loss, or further exploitation of the application's unstable state.
• Business impact can be significant, including loss of customer trust, financial losses, and legal liabilities due to non-compliance with security standards.

• Prevention Guidelines:

• Specific code-level fixes include implementing robust error-handling routines that ensure each detected error is appropriately managed.
• Security best practices involve regular code reviews, static analysis, and testing to identify and address unhandled errors.
• Recommended tools and frameworks include using logging and monitoring solutions to track error conditions and employing exception handling mechanisms provided by programming languages or frameworks.

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Technical Details

Likelihood of Exploit: Medium

Affected Languages: Not Language-Specific

Affected Technologies: Not specified

Vulnerable Code Example

import os

def read_file(file_path):
    try:
        with open(file_path, 'r') as file:
            return file.read()
    except FileNotFoundError:  # Exception is detected
        pass  # Error is ignored
    except PermissionError:  # Exception is detected
        pass  # Error is ignored

Explanation:

• In this Python code snippet, the read_file function attempts to read a file from the specified path.
• The function detects two specific exceptions: FileNotFoundError and PermissionError, but simply ignores them without taking any action.
• This lack of handling can lead to silent failures where the program continues without acknowledging or addressing the error, potentially causing debugging challenges and hiding security-related issues.

How to fix Detection of Error Condition Without Action?

To properly handle detected errors, you should do one or more of the following:

• Log the Error: Capture details about the error condition to aid in troubleshooting and auditing.
• Communicate the Error: Return a meaningful message or status to the caller, so they are aware of the issue.
• Take Corrective Action: If possible, attempt a corrective measure, or escalate the error.

By implementing these practices, you ensure that errors are not silently ignored, which improves the robustness and security of the application.

Fixed Code Example

import os
import logging

logging.basicConfig(level=logging.ERROR, format='%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s')

def read_file(file_path):
    try:
        with open(file_path, 'r') as file:
            return file.read()
    except FileNotFoundError as e:  # Exception is detected
        logging.error(f"File not found: {file_path}")  # Log the error
        raise e  # Re-raise the exception to notify the caller
    except PermissionError as e:  # Exception is detected
        logging.error(f"Permission denied: {file_path}")  # Log the error
        raise e  # Re-raise the exception to notify the caller
    except Exception as e:  # Catch any other unforeseen errors
        logging.error(f"Unexpected error: {str(e)}")  # Log the unexpected error
        raise e  # Re-raise the exception to notify the caller

Explanation:

• Logging: The fixed code uses the logging module to log errors when they occur. This provides valuable information for debugging and monitoring.
• Raising Exceptions: After logging, the exceptions are re-raised to ensure that the calling code is aware of the failure and can handle it appropriately.
• Generic Exception Handling: Added a general Exception handler to catch other unforeseen errors, logging them as unexpected.
• This approach ensures that errors are neither ignored nor hidden, providing transparency and facilitating better error management throughout the application.