CWE-820: Missing Synchronization
Learn about CWE-820 (Missing Synchronization), its security impact, exploitation methods, and prevention guidelines.
What is Missing Synchronization?
• Overview: Missing Synchronization (CWE-820) occurs when a program uses a shared resource concurrently without coordinating access to it. This lack of synchronization can lead to the resource being in an unexpected state, causing unpredictable behavior or security issues.
• Exploitation Methods:
- Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by manipulating the timing of access to shared resources, leading to race conditions.
- Common attack patterns include causing inconsistent data states or leveraging race conditions to gain unauthorized access or escalate privileges.
• Security Impact:
- Direct consequences include data corruption, crashes, or unexpected behavior due to unsynchronized access.
- Potential cascading effects involve system instability or broader security breaches if critical resources are compromised.
- Business impact can include loss of data integrity, loss of customer trust, and potential financial loss due to system downtime or data breaches.
• Prevention Guidelines:
- Specific code-level fixes include implementing synchronization mechanisms such as locks, mutexes, or semaphores to manage concurrent access.
- Security best practices involve careful design and code reviews to identify and mitigate potential race conditions.
- Recommended tools and frameworks include using concurrency libraries and static analysis tools to detect and resolve synchronization issues during development.
Technical Details
Likelihood of Exploit: Not specified
Affected Languages: Not specified
Affected Technologies: Not specified