{"@ID": "268", "@Name": "Privilege Chaining", "@Abstraction": "Base", "@Structure": "Simple", "@Status": "Draft", "Description": "Two distinct privileges, roles, capabilities, or rights can be combined in a way that allows an entity to perform unsafe actions that would not be allowed without that combination.", "Related_Weaknesses": {"Related_Weakness": {"@Nature": "ChildOf", "@CWE_ID": "269", "@View_ID": "1000", "@Ordinal": "Primary"}}, "Weakness_Ordinalities": {"Weakness_Ordinality": {"Ordinality": "Primary"}}, "Applicable_Platforms": {"Language": {"@Class": "Not Language-Specific", "@Prevalence": "Undetermined"}}, "Modes_Of_Introduction": {"Introduction": [{"Phase": "Architecture and Design"}, {"Phase": "Implementation", "Note": "REALIZATION: This weakness is caused during implementation of an architectural security tactic."}, {"Phase": "Operation"}]}, "Likelihood_Of_Exploit": "High", "Common_Consequences": {"Consequence": {"Scope": "Access Control", "Impact": "Gain Privileges or Assume Identity", "Note": "A user can be given or gain access rights of another user. This can give the user unauthorized access to sensitive information including the access information of another user."}}, "Potential_Mitigations": {"Mitigation": [{"@Mitigation_ID": "MIT-49", "Phase": "Architecture and Design", "Strategy": "Separation of Privilege", "Description": "Consider following the principle of separation of privilege. Require multiple conditions to be met before permitting access to a system resource."}, {"@Mitigation_ID": "MIT-1", "Phase": ["Architecture and Design", "Operation"], "Description": "Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software."}, {"@Mitigation_ID": "MIT-17", "Phase": ["Architecture and Design", "Operation"], "Strategy": "Environment Hardening", "Description": "Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks [REF-76]. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment. For example, database applications rarely need to run as the database administrator, especially in day-to-day operations."}]}, "Demonstrative_Examples": {"Demonstrative_Example": {"@Demonstrative_Example_ID": "DX-128", "Intro_Text": "This code allows someone with the role of \"ADMIN\" or \"OPERATOR\" to reset a user's password. The role of \"OPERATOR\" is intended to have less privileges than an \"ADMIN\", but still be able to help users with small issues such as forgotten passwords.", "Example_Code": {"@Nature": "Bad", "@Language": "Java", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:div": [{"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "#text": "ADMIN,OPERATOR,USER,GUEST"}, {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:div": [{"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:div": {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:div": {"xhtml:div": [{"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:br": null, "#text": "System.out.println(\"You are not authorized to perform this command\");break;"}, {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:br": null, "#text": "System.out.println(\"You are not authorized to perform this command\");break;"}, {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "xhtml:br": null, "#text": "setPassword(user,password);break;"}], "xhtml:br": [null, null], "#text": "case GUEST:\n                                       case USER:\n                                       default:}"}}, "#text": "switch(requestingUser.role){}"}}, {"@style": "margin-left:1em;", "#text": "System.out.println(\"You must be logged in to perform this command\");"}], "xhtml:br": null, "#text": "if(isAuthenticated(requestingUser)){\n                           else{}"}}], "xhtml:br": [null, null], "#text": "public enum Roles {}\n                     public void resetPassword(User requestingUser, User user, String password ){}"}}, "Body_Text": "This code does not check the role of the user whose password is being reset. It is possible for an Operator to gain Admin privileges by resetting the password of an Admin account and taking control of that account."}}, "Observed_Examples": {"Observed_Example": [{"Reference": "CVE-2005-1736", "Description": "Chaining of user rights.", "Link": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2005-1736"}, {"Reference": "CVE-2002-1772", "Description": "Gain certain rights via privilege chaining in alternate channel.", "Link": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2002-1772"}, {"Reference": "CVE-2005-1973", "Description": "Application is allowed to assign extra permissions to itself.", "Link": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2005-1973"}, {"Reference": "CVE-2003-0640", "Description": "\"operator\" user can overwrite usernames and passwords to gain admin privileges.", "Link": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2003-0640"}]}, "Taxonomy_Mappings": {"Taxonomy_Mapping": {"@Taxonomy_Name": "PLOVER", "Entry_Name": "Privilege Chaining"}}, "References": {"Reference": {"@External_Reference_ID": "REF-76"}}, "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"}}}, "Notes": {"Note": {"@Type": "Relationship", "#text": "There is some conceptual overlap with Unsafe Privilege."}}, "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, Other_Notes, Relationship_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings, Weakness_Ordinalities"}, {"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 Relationships"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2009-12-28", "Modification_Version": "1.7", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2009-12-28", "Modification_Comment": "updated Other_Notes, Potential_Mitigations, Research_Gaps"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2010-06-21", "Modification_Version": "1.9", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2010-06-21", "Modification_Comment": "updated Potential_Mitigations"}, {"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": "2012-05-11", "Modification_Version": "2.2", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2012-05-15", "Modification_Comment": "updated Common_Consequences, Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2012-10-30", "Modification_Version": "2.3", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2012-10-30", "Modification_Comment": "updated Potential_Mitigations, References"}, {"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, Causal_Nature, Modes_of_Introduction, References, Relationships"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2019-09-19", "Modification_Version": "3.4", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2019-09-19", "Modification_Comment": "updated Demonstrative_Examples"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2022-04-28", "Modification_Version": "4.7", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2022-04-28", "Modification_Comment": "updated Research_Gaps"}, {"Modification_Name": "CWE Content Team", "Modification_Organization": "MITRE", "Modification_Date": "2022-10-13", "Modification_Version": "4.9", "Modification_ReleaseDate": "2022-10-13", "Modification_Comment": "updated References"}, {"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 References, Relationships"}, {"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, Relationships"}]}}