CWE-665: Improper Initialization

What is Improper Initialization?

• Overview: Improper Initialization (CWE-665) occurs when a software product does not initialize a resource correctly, potentially leaving it in an unexpected state. This can lead to security vulnerabilities when the resource is assumed to have specific properties or values, such as a status indicator for user authentication.

• Exploitation Methods:

• Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by accessing resources that have been improperly initialized, potentially manipulating them to bypass security checks.
• Common attack patterns include injecting malicious data into uninitialized variables or taking advantage of default values that lead to unintended behavior.

• Security Impact:

• Direct consequences include unauthorized access to sensitive data or functions, as the software might misinterpret the state of a resource.
• Potential cascading effects involve further exploitation of the system, leading to broader security breaches.
• Business impact could range from data loss and corruption to reputational damage and financial loss due to security incidents.

• Prevention Guidelines:

• Specific code-level fixes include explicitly initializing all variables and resources before use, ensuring no assumptions are made about their state.
• Security best practices involve rigorous code reviews and static analysis to detect uninitialized resources.
• Recommended tools and frameworks include using language-specific compilers and static analysis tools that flag improper initialization, along with adhering to secure coding standards and guidelines.

Corgea can automatically detect and fix Improper Initialization in your codebase. Try Corgea free today.

Technical Details

Likelihood of Exploit: Medium

Affected Languages: Not Language-Specific

Affected Technologies: Not specified

Vulnerable Code Example

Sure, let's improve the code examples for CWE-665 (Improper Initialization) by addressing the issues you've highlighted:

• We'll ensure proper syntax highlighting.
• We'll format the line numbers correctly.
• We'll enhance comments for clarity.
• We'll ensure the examples are realistic and follow best practices.

const http = require('http');

function fetchData(url) {
    let data;  // Vulnerable: 'data' is declared but not initialized, leading to 'undefined' issues

    http.get(url, (res) => {
        res.on('data', (chunk) => {
            data += chunk;  // Concatenating 'undefined' with strings results in 'undefinedchunk'
        });

        res.on('end', () => {
            console.log(data);  // Output may be incorrect if 'data' is not initialized
        });
    }).on('error', (e) => {
        console.error(`Got error: \${e.message}`);  // Error handling for HTTP request
    });
}

How to fix Improper Initialization?

In JavaScript, improper initialization can lead to unexpected values or behaviors, such as undefined being concatenated with strings. To fix this:

1. Initialize variables with an appropriate default value before using them.
2. Ensure that variables are always in a consistent state before they are used.

Fixed Code Example

const http = require('http');

function fetchData(url) {
    let data = '';  // Properly initialize 'data' as an empty string to avoid 'undefined' issues

    http.get(url, (res) => {
        res.on('data', (chunk) => {
            data += chunk;  // Correctly concatenates chunks of data as strings
        });

        res.on('end', () => {
            console.log(data);  // Outputs the correctly concatenated data
        });
    }).on('error', (e) => {
        console.error(`Got error: \${e.message}`);  // Error handling for HTTP request
    });
}

In these examples, proper initialization of variables ensures that the code behaves as expected, preventing runtime errors and undefined behaviors. Proper initialization is a crucial step in maintaining code reliability and security.