Weakness · High
CWE-489: Active Debug Code
What it is
The product is released with debugging code still enabled or active.
- Severity (our rating)
- High
- Likelihood of exploit
- Not rated by MITRE
- Introduced during
- Build and Compilation, Implementation, Operation
- Exploited in the wild
- No CVE in CISA's catalog
What an attacker can do
- Bypass Protection Mechanism (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Access Control, Other)
- Read Application Data (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Access Control, Other)
- Gain Privileges or Assume Identity (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Access Control, Other)
- Varies by Context (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Access Control, Other)
How to prevent it
Build and Compilation
- Remove debug code before deploying the application.
How to find it
- Automated Static Analysis. Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)
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Start freeSource: MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration, CWE version 4.19.1. CWE is a trademark of The MITRE Corporation.