Weakness · Medium

CWE-276: Incorrect Default Permissions

What it is

During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.

Likelihood of exploit: Medium5 exploited in the wildMITRE CWE 4.19.1

Severity (our rating): Medium
Likelihood of exploit: Medium
Introduced during: Architecture and Design, Implementation, Installation, Operation
Exploited in the wild: 5 known exploited CVEs

What an attacker can do

Read Application Data (Confidentiality, Integrity)
Modify Application Data (Confidentiality, Integrity)

How to prevent it

Architecture and Design

The architecture needs to access and modification attributes for files to only those users who actually require those actions.
Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area. Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.

How to find it

Automated Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode. According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Inter-application Flow Analysis
Manual Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode. According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Binary / Bytecode disassembler - then use manual analysis for vulnerabilities & anomalies
Dynamic Analysis with Automated Results Interpretation. According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Host-based Vulnerability Scanners - Examine configuration for flaws, verifying that audit mechanisms work, ensure host configuration meets certain predefined criteria Web Application Scanner Web Services Scanner Database Scanners
Dynamic Analysis with Manual Results Interpretation. According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful: Highly cost effective: Host Application Interface Scanner Cost effective for partial coverage: Fuzz Tester Framework-based Fuzzer Automated Monitored Execution Forced Path Execution
Manual Static Analysis - Source Code. According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful: Highly cost effective: Manual Source Code Review (not inspections) Cost effective for partial coverage: Focused Manual Spotcheck - Focused manual analysis of source
Automated Static Analysis - Source Code. According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Context-configured Source Code Weakness Analyzer
Automated Static Analysis. According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Configuration Checker
Architecture or Design Review. According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful: Highly cost effective: Formal Methods / Correct-By-Construction Cost effective for partial coverage: Inspection (IEEE 1028 standard) (can apply to requirements, design, source code, etc.)

CWE-276 on MITRE's CWE site

Exploited in the wild: 5 CVEs

Vulnerabilities caused by CWE-276 that attackers have used, from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, newest first.

All known exploited vulnerabilities

H2 Security

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Source: MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration, CWE version 4.19.1. CWE is a trademark of The MITRE Corporation.