509
}
If an exception occurs, the printed message exposes the location of the configuration file the script
is using. An attacker can use this information to target the configuration file (perhaps exploiting a
Path Traversal weakness). If the file can be read, the attacker could gain credentials for accessing
the database. The attacker may also be able to replace the file with a malicious one, causing the
application to use an arbitrary database.
Example 3:
In the example below, the method getUserBankAccount retrieves a bank account object from
a database using the supplied username and account number to query the database. If an
SQLException is raised when querying the database, an error message is created and output to a
log file.
Example Language: Java (Bad)
public BankAccount getUserBankAccount(String username, String accountNumber) {
BankAccount userAccount = null;
String query = null;
try {
if (isAuthorizedUser(username)) {
query = "SELECT * FROM accounts WHERE owner = "
+ username + " AND accountID = " + accountNumber;
DatabaseManager dbManager = new DatabaseManager();
Connection conn = dbManager.getConnection();
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet queryResult = stmt.executeQuery(query);
userAccount = (BankAccount)queryResult.getObject(accountNumber);
}
} catch (SQLException ex) {
String logMessage = "Unable to retrieve account information from database,\nquery: " + query;
Logger.getLogger(BankManager.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, logMessage, ex);
}
return userAccount;
}
The error message that is created includes information about the database query that may contain
sensitive information about the database or query logic. In this case, the error message will expose
the table name and column names used in the database. This data could be used to simplify other
attacks, such as SQL injection (CWE-89) to directly access the database.
Example 4:
This code stores location information about the current user:
Example Language: Java (Bad)
locationClient = new LocationClient(this, this, this);
locationClient.connect();
currentUser.setLocation(locationClient.getLastLocation());
...
catch (Exception e) {
AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);
builder.setMessage("Sorry, this application has experienced an error.");
AlertDialog alert = builder.create();
alert.show();
Log.e("ExampleActivity", "Caught exception: " + e + " While on User:" + User.toString());
}
When the application encounters an exception it will write the user object to the log. Because the
user object contains location information, the user's location is also written to the log.
Example 5:
CWE Version 4.14
CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor