Weakness · Medium
CWE-580: clone() Method Without super.clone()
What it is
The product contains a clone() method that does not call super.clone() to obtain the new object.
- Severity (our rating)
- Medium
- Likelihood of exploit
- Not rated by MITRE
- Introduced during
- Implementation
- Exploited in the wild
- No CVE in CISA's catalog
In more detail
All implementations of clone() should obtain the new object by calling super.clone(). If a class does not follow this convention, a subclass's clone() method will return an object of the wrong type.
What an attacker can do
- Unexpected State (Integrity, Other)
- Quality Degradation (Integrity, Other)
How to prevent it
Implementation
- Call super.clone() within your clone() method, when obtaining a new object.
- In some cases, you can eliminate the clone method altogether and use copy constructors.
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.