1569
The product does not check or incorrectly checks for unusual or exceptional conditions that are not
expected to occur frequently during day to day operation of the product.
Extended Description
The programmer may assume that certain events or conditions will never occur or do not need to
be worried about, such as low memory conditions, lack of access to resources due to restrictive
permissions, or misbehaving clients or components. However, attackers may intentionally trigger
these unusual conditions, thus violating the programmer's assumptions, possibly introducing
instability, incorrect behavior, or a vulnerability.
Note that this entry is not exclusively about the use of exceptions and exception handling, which
are mechanisms for both checking and handling unusual or unexpected conditions.
Relationships
The table(s) below shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this
weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOr and give insight to
similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such
as PeerOf and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that may want to be explored.
Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (CWE-1000)
Nature Type ID Name Page
ChildOf 703 Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions 1535
ParentOf 252 Unchecked Return Value 606
ParentOf 253 Incorrect Check of Function Return Value 613
ParentOf 273 Improper Check for Dropped Privileges 660
ParentOf 354 Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value 876
ParentOf 391 Unchecked Error Condition 948
ParentOf 394 Unexpected Status Code or Return Value 955
ParentOf 476 NULL Pointer Dereference 1132
Relevant to the view "Weaknesses for Simplified Mapping of Published
Vulnerabilities" (CWE-1003)
Nature Type ID Name Page
ParentOf 252 Unchecked Return Value 606
ParentOf 273 Improper Check for Dropped Privileges 660
ParentOf 476 NULL Pointer Dereference 1132
Relevant to the view "Architectural Concepts" (CWE-1008)
Nature Type ID Name Page
MemberOf 1012 Cross Cutting 2427
Applicable Platforms
Language : Not Language-Specific (Prevalence = Undetermined)
Background Details
Many functions will return some value about the success of their actions. This will alert the program
whether or not to handle any errors caused by that function.
Likelihood Of Exploit
Medium
Common Consequences
Scope Impact Likelihood
Integrity DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
CWE Version 4.14
CWE-754: Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions
CWE-754: Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions