660
acquire root privilege. As soon as the privileged operation has completed, the program should
drop root privilege and return to the privilege level of the invoking user.
Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy Name Node ID Fit Mapped Node Name
7 Pernicious Kingdoms Least Privilege Violation
CLASP Failure to drop privileges when
reasonable
CERT C Secure Coding POS02-
C
Follow the principle of least privilege
The CERT Oracle Secure
Coding Standard for Java
(2011)
SEC00-J Do not allow privileged blocks to leak
sensitive information across a trust
boundary
The CERT Oracle Secure
Coding Standard for Java
(2011)
SEC01-J Do not allow tainted variables in
privileged blocks
Software Fault Patterns SFP36 Privilege
Related Attack Patterns
CAPEC-ID Attack Pattern Name
17 Using Malicious Files
35 Leverage Executable Code in Non-Executable Files
76 Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls
References
[REF-6]Katrina Tsipenyuk, Brian Chess and Gary McGraw. "Seven Pernicious Kingdoms: A
Taxonomy of Software Security Errors". NIST Workshop on Software Security Assurance Tools
Techniques and Metrics. 2005 November 7. NIST. < https://samate.nist.gov/SSATTM_Content/
papers/Seven%20Pernicious%20Kingdoms%20-%20Taxonomy%20of%20Sw%20Security
%20Errors%20-%20Tsipenyuk%20-%20Chess%20-%20McGraw.pdf >.
CWE-273: Improper Check for Dropped Privileges
Weakness ID : 273
Structure : Simple
Abstraction : Base
Description
The product attempts to drop privileges but does not check or incorrectly checks to see if the drop
succeeded.
Extended Description
If the drop fails, the product will continue to run with the raised privileges, which might provide
additional access to unprivileged users.
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 271 Privilege Dropping / Lowering Errors 653
ChildOf 754 Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions 1568
CWE Version 4.14
CWE-273: Improper Check for Dropped Privileges
CWE-273: Improper Check for Dropped Privileges