{"@ID": "240", "@Name": "Improper Handling of Inconsistent Structural Elements", "@Abstraction": "Base", "@Structure": "Simple", "@Status": "Draft", "Description": "The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when two or more structural elements should be consistent, but are not.", "Related_Weaknesses": {"Related_Weakness": [{"@Nature": "ChildOf", "@CWE_ID": "237", "@View_ID": "1000", "@Ordinal": "Primary"}, {"@Nature": "ChildOf", "@CWE_ID": "707", "@View_ID": "1000"}]}, "Weakness_Ordinalities": {"Weakness_Ordinality": [{"Ordinality": "Primary"}, {"Ordinality": "Resultant"}]}, "Applicable_Platforms": {"Language": {"@Class": "Not Language-Specific", "@Prevalence": "Undetermined"}, "Technology": {"@Class": "Not Technology-Specific", "@Prevalence": "Undetermined"}}, "Modes_Of_Introduction": {"Introduction": {"Phase": "Implementation"}}, "Common_Consequences": {"Consequence": {"Scope": ["Integrity", "Other"], "Impact": ["Varies by Context", "Unexpected State"]}}, "Demonstrative_Examples": {"Demonstrative_Example": {"@Demonstrative_Example_ID": "DX-91", "Intro_Text": "In the following C/C++ example the method processMessageFromSocket() will get a message from a socket, placed into a buffer, and will parse the contents of the buffer into a structure that contains the message length and the message body. A for loop is used to copy the message body into a local character string which will be passed to another method for processing.", "Example_Code": {"@Nature": "Bad", "@Language": "C", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:br": [null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null], "xhtml:i": ["// get message from socket and store into buffer", "//Ignoring possibliity that buffer > BUFFER_SIZE"], "xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:br": [null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null], "xhtml:i": ["// place contents of the buffer into message structure", "// copy message body into string for processing", "// process message"], "xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "#text": "message[index] = msg->msgBody[index];"}, "#text": "ExMessage *msg = recastBuffer(buffer);\n                                 \n                                 \n                                 int index;for (index = 0; index < msg->msgLength; index++) {}message[index] = '\\0';\n                                 \n                                 \n                                 success = processMessage(message);"}}, "#text": "int success;\n                           char buffer[BUFFER_SIZE];char message[MESSAGE_SIZE];\n                           \n                           \n                           \n                           \n                           \n                           if (getMessage(socket, buffer, BUFFER_SIZE) > 0) {}return success;"}}, "#text": "int processMessageFromSocket(int socket) {}"}}, "Body_Text": "However, the message length variable (msgLength) from the structure is used as the condition for ending the for loop without validating that msgLength accurately reflects the actual length of the message body (CWE-606). If msgLength indicates a length that is longer than the size of a message body (CWE-130), then this can result in a buffer over-read by reading past the end of the buffer (CWE-126)."}}, "Observed_Examples": {"Observed_Example": [{"Reference": "CVE-2014-0160", "Description": "Chain: \"Heartbleed\" bug receives an inconsistent length parameter (CWE-130) enabling an out-of-bounds read (CWE-126), returning memory that could include private cryptographic keys and other sensitive data.", "Link": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-0160"}, {"Reference": "CVE-2009-2299", "Description": "Web application firewall consumes excessive memory when an HTTP request contains a large Content-Length value but no POST data.", "Link": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-2299"}]}, "Taxonomy_Mappings": {"Taxonomy_Mapping": {"@Taxonomy_Name": "PLOVER", "Entry_Name": "Inconsistent Elements"}}, "Mapping_Notes": {"Usage": "Allowed", "Rationale": "This CWE entry is at the Base level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.", "Comments": "Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.", "Reasons": {"Reason": {"@Type": "Acceptable-Use"}}}, "Content_History": {"Submission": {"Submission_Name": "PLOVER", "Submission_Date": "2006-07-19", "Submission_Version": "Draft 3", "Submission_ReleaseDate": "2006-07-19"}, "Modification": [{"Modification_Name": "Eric Dalci", "Modification_Organization": "Cigital", "Modification_Date": "2008-07-01", "Modification_Version": "1.0", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2008-09-09", "Modification_Comment": "updated Time_of_Introduction"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2008-09-08", "Modification_Version": "1.0", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2008-09-09", "Modification_Comment": "updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2009-03-10", "Modification_Version": "1.3", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2009-03-10", "Modification_Comment": "updated Description, Name"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2011-06-01", "Modification_Version": "1.13", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2011-06-01", "Modification_Comment": "updated Common_Consequences"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2011-06-27", "Modification_Version": "2.0", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2011-06-27", "Modification_Comment": "updated Common_Consequences"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2012-05-11", "Modification_Version": "2.2", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2012-05-15", "Modification_Comment": "updated Relationships"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2013-07-17", "Modification_Version": "2.5", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2013-07-17", "Modification_Comment": "updated Type"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2014-07-30", "Modification_Version": "2.8", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2014-07-31", "Modification_Comment": "updated Relationships"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2017-11-08", "Modification_Version": "3.0", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2017-11-08", "Modification_Comment": "updated Applicable_Platforms, Type"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2020-02-24", "Modification_Version": "4.0", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2020-02-24", "Modification_Comment": "updated Relationships"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2023-01-31", "Modification_Version": "4.10", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2023-01-31", "Modification_Comment": "updated Description"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2023-04-27", "Modification_Version": "4.11", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2023-04-27", "Modification_Comment": "updated Relationships, Time_of_Introduction"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2023-06-29", "Modification_Version": "4.12", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2023-06-29", "Modification_Comment": "updated Mapping_Notes"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2024-02-29", "Modification_Version": "4.14", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2024-02-29", "Modification_Comment": "updated Demonstrative_Examples, Observed_Examples"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2025-09-09", "Modification_Version": "4.18", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2025-09-09", "Modification_Comment": "updated Demonstrative_Examples"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2025-12-11", "Modification_Version": "4.19", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2025-12-11", "Modification_Comment": "updated Applicable_Platforms, Weakness_Ordinalities"}], "Previous_Entry_Name": [{"@Date": "2008-04-11", "#text": "Inconsistent Elements"}, {"@Date": "2009-03-10", "#text": "Failure to Resolve Inconsistent Elements"}]}}