Weakness · Medium
CWE-783: Operator Precedence Logic Error
What it is
The product uses an expression in which operator precedence causes incorrect logic to be used.
- Severity (our rating)
- Medium
- Likelihood of exploit
- Low
- Introduced during
- Implementation
- Exploited in the wild
- 1 known exploited CVE
In more detail
While often just a bug, operator precedence logic errors can have serious consequences if they are used in security-critical code, such as making an authentication decision.
What an attacker can do
- Varies by Context (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability)
- Unexpected State (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability)
How to prevent it
Implementation
- Regularly wrap sub-expressions in parentheses, especially in security-critical code.
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.)
Exploited in the wild: 1 CVE
Vulnerabilities caused by CWE-783 that attackers have used, from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, newest first.
H2 Security
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Start freeSource: MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration, CWE version 4.19.1. CWE is a trademark of The MITRE Corporation.