CWE-573: Improper Following of Specification by Caller
Learn about CWE-573 (Improper Following of Specification by Caller), its security impact, exploitation methods, and prevention guidelines.
What is Improper Following of Specification by Caller?
• Overview: Improper Following of Specification by Caller (CWE-573) occurs when software does not adhere to the required specifications of an external system, such as APIs or protocols, leading to unexpected behavior and potential vulnerabilities.
• Exploitation Methods:
- Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by sending unexpected input or requests that the software fails to handle correctly due to improper specification adherence.
- Common attack patterns include injecting malformed data or exploiting incorrect assumptions about data formats, sequences, or states.
• Security Impact:
- Direct consequences of successful exploitation can include unauthorized access, data corruption, or system crashes.
- Potential cascading effects include making systems more susceptible to further exploits or denial of service attacks.
- Business impact may involve data breaches, loss of customer trust, and financial losses due to system downtime or exploitation.
• Prevention Guidelines:
- Specific code-level fixes involve rigorously following the documented specifications for any external system or API interactions.
- Security best practices include validating all inputs and outputs against the specifications and implementing error handling for unexpected conditions.
- Recommended tools and frameworks include using static analysis tools to detect specification mismatches and employing automated testing frameworks that include specification conformance tests.
Technical Details
Likelihood of Exploit: Not specified
Affected Languages: Not specified
Affected Technologies: Not specified