293
Relevant to the view "Software Development" (CWE-699)
Nature Type ID Name Page
MemberOf 465 Pointer Issues 2328
Common Consequences
Scope Impact Likelihood
Confidentiality Read Memory
If the uninitialized pointer is used in a read operation,
an attacker might be able to read sensitive portions of
memory.
Availability DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
If the uninitialized pointer references a memory location
that is not accessible to the product, or points to a location
that is "malformed" (such as NULL) or larger than expected
by a read or write operation, then a crash may occur.
Integrity
Confidentiality
Availability
Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
If the uninitialized pointer is used in a function call, or
points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code
execution may be possible.
Detection Methods
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.)
Effectiveness = High
Observed Examples
Reference Description
CVE-2010-0211 chain: unchecked return value (CWE-252) leads to free of invalid, uninitialized
pointer (CWE-824).
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2010-0211
CVE-2009-2768 Pointer in structure is not initialized, leading to NULL pointer dereference
(CWE-476) and system crash.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-2768
CVE-2009-1721 Free of an uninitialized pointer.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-1721
CVE-2009-1415 Improper handling of invalid signatures leads to free of invalid pointer.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-1415
CVE-2009-0846 Invalid encoding triggers free of uninitialized pointer.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-0846
CWE Version 4.14
CWE-824: Access of Uninitialized Pointer
CWE-824: Access of Uninitialized Pointer