{"@ID": "245", "@Name": "J2EE Bad Practices: Direct Management of Connections", "@Abstraction": "Variant", "@Structure": "Simple", "@Status": "Draft", "Description": "The J2EE application directly manages connections, instead of using the container's connection management facilities.", "Related_Weaknesses": {"Related_Weakness": {"@Nature": "ChildOf", "@CWE_ID": "695", "@View_ID": "1000", "@Ordinal": "Primary"}}, "Weakness_Ordinalities": {"Weakness_Ordinality": {"Ordinality": "Primary"}}, "Applicable_Platforms": {"Language": {"@Name": "Java", "@Prevalence": "Undetermined"}, "Technology": [{"@Class": "Web Based", "@Prevalence": "Undetermined"}, {"@Name": "Web Server", "@Prevalence": "Undetermined"}]}, "Background_Details": {"Background_Detail": "The J2EE standard forbids the direct management of connections. It requires that applications use the container's resource management facilities to obtain connections to resources. Every major web application container provides pooled database connection management as part of its resource management framework. Duplicating this functionality in an application is difficult and error prone, which is part of the reason it is forbidden under the J2EE standard."}, "Modes_Of_Introduction": {"Introduction": {"Phase": "Implementation"}}, "Common_Consequences": {"Consequence": {"Scope": "Other", "Impact": "Quality Degradation"}}, "Detection_Methods": {"Detection_Method": {"@Detection_Method_ID": "DM-14", "Method": "Automated Static Analysis", "Description": "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"}}, "Demonstrative_Examples": {"Demonstrative_Example": {"Intro_Text": "In the following example, the class DatabaseConnection opens and manages a connection to a database for a J2EE application. The method openDatabaseConnection opens a connection to the database using a DriverManager to create the Connection object conn to the database specified in the string constant CONNECT_STRING.", "Example_Code": [{"@Nature": "Bad", "@Language": "Java", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:br": [null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null], "xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "#text": "conn = DriverManager.getConnection(CONNECT_STRING);"}, "#text": "try {} catch (SQLException ex) {...}"}, "#text": "private static final String CONNECT_STRING = \"jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mysqldb\";private Connection conn = null;\n                           public DatabaseConnection() {}\n                           public void openDatabaseConnection() {}\n                           // Member functions for retrieving database connection and accessing database..."}}, "#text": "public class DatabaseConnection {}"}, "#text_blocks": ["public class DatabaseConnection {", "private static final String CONNECT_STRING = \"jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mysqldb\";", "private Connection conn = null;", "public DatabaseConnection() {", "}", "public void openDatabaseConnection() {", "try {", "conn = DriverManager.getConnection(CONNECT_STRING);", "} catch (SQLException ex) {...}", "}", "// Member functions for retrieving database connection and accessing database", "...", "}"]}, {"@Nature": "Good", "@Language": "Java", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:br": null, "xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:br": [null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null], "xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:br": [null, null, null], "#text": "InitialContext ctx = new InitialContext();DataSource datasource = (DataSource) ctx.lookup(DB_DATASRC_REF);conn = datasource.getConnection();"}}, "xhtml:br": null, "#text": "try {} catch (NamingException ex) {...}} catch (SQLException ex) {...}"}}, "#text": "private static final String DB_DATASRC_REF = \"jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mysqldb\";private Connection conn = null;\n                           public DatabaseConnection() {}\n                           public void openDatabaseConnection() {}\n                           // Member functions for retrieving database connection and accessing database..."}}, "#text": "public class DatabaseConnection {\n                     }"}, "#text_blocks": ["public class DatabaseConnection {", "private static final String DB_DATASRC_REF = \"jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mysqldb\";", "private Connection conn = null;", "public DatabaseConnection() {", "}", "public void openDatabaseConnection() {", "try {", "InitialContext ctx = new InitialContext();", "DataSource datasource = (DataSource) ctx.lookup(DB_DATASRC_REF);", "conn = datasource.getConnection();", "} catch (NamingException ex) {...}", "} catch (SQLException ex) {...}", "}", "// Member functions for retrieving database connection and accessing database", "...", "}"]}], "Body_Text": "The use of the DriverManager class to directly manage the connection to the database violates the J2EE restriction against the direct management of connections. The J2EE application should use the web application container's resource management facilities to obtain a connection to the database as shown in the following example."}}, "Taxonomy_Mappings": {"Taxonomy_Mapping": [{"@Taxonomy_Name": "7 Pernicious Kingdoms", "Entry_Name": "J2EE Bad Practices: getConnection()"}, {"@Taxonomy_Name": "Software Fault Patterns", "Entry_ID": "SFP3", "Entry_Name": "Use of an improper API"}]}, "References": {"Reference": {"@External_Reference_ID": "REF-6"}}, "Mapping_Notes": {"Usage": "Allowed", "Rationale": "This CWE entry is at the Variant 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": "7 Pernicious Kingdoms", "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, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings, Weakness_Ordinalities"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2010-04-05", "Modification_Version": "1.8.1", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2010-04-05", "Modification_Comment": "updated Demonstrative_Examples"}, {"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": "2014-06-23", "Modification_Version": "2.7", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2014-06-23", "Modification_Comment": "updated Description, Other_Notes"}, {"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, Taxonomy_Mappings"}, {"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 Causal_Nature, Relationships"}, {"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 References, Relationships"}, {"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 Detection_Factors, 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": "2025-04-03", "Modification_Version": "4.17", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2025-04-03", "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"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2026-10-28", "Modification_Version": "5.0", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2026-10-28", "Modification_Comment": "updated Background_Details, Description, References"}], "Previous_Entry_Name": {"@Date": "2008-04-11", "#text": "J2EE Bad Practices: getConnection()"}}, "entry_type": "Weakness"}