Compliance Node Overview
CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write) is consistently the highest-ranked memory safety weakness in the CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses and is the underlying weakness for the majority of remote code execution exploits in native code. CWE-787 is defined as: the product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. The Extended Description notes that memory corruption can occur through write operations exceeding buffer boundaries; attackers may modify control data such as return addresses to execute unauthorized code; the consequences include system crashes, undefined behavior, and potential code execution. Common Consequences include integrity impact (write operations could cause memory corruption; in some cases, an adversary can modify control data such as return addresses in order to execute unexpected code); availability impact (attempting to access out-of-range, invalid, or unauthorized memory could cause the product to crash); and other impact (subsequent write operations can produce undefined or unexpected results). Potential Mitigations include language selection (use memory-safe languages like Java, Perl, Ada, or C# that prevent this weakness or provide overflow protection); libraries and frameworks (employ vetted libraries like SafeStr or Strsafe.h providing safer string-handling functions); compiler features (use overflow detection mechanisms including Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, GCC FORTIFY_SOURCE, StackGuard, ProPolice); memory management (double-check buffer sizes, use bounded functions like strncpy, validate loop boundaries); ASLR and PIE (Address Space Layout Randomization and Position-Independent Executables); Data Execution Protection (use NX/XD bits to prevent code execution from data segments); and bounded functions (replace unbounded copy functions with length-aware alternatives).
Pillar: Cybersecurity · Authority: MITRE Corporation / Common Weakness Enumeration · Version: 1.0.0 · Last updated:
Primary source: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/787.html
SHA-256 integrity: d8d57ad04ca31eee891280af760f6e1581778af2f9f3c71e5d9f67ba847c56ad
Primary Citations — 12 traced to source
- CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write - MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration at https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/787.html
- CWE-787 Definition - the product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer
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