CWE-109
Weakness AllowedStruts: Validator Turned Off
Abstraction: Variant · Status: Draft
Automatic filtering via a Struts bean has been turned off, which disables the Struts Validator and custom validation logic. This exposes the application to other weaknesses related to insufficient input validation.
Mapping guidance
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.
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.
Modes of introduction
Detection methods
Automated Static Analysis
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
Notes
Other
The Action Form mapping in the demonstrative example disables the form's validate() method. The Struts bean: write tag automatically encodes special HTML characters, replacing a < with "<" and a > with ">". This action can be disabled by specifying filter="false" as an attribute of the tag to disable specified JSP pages. However, being disabled makes these pages susceptible to cross-site scripting attacks. An attacker may be able to insert malicious scripts as user input to write to these JSP pages.
Content history
updated Potential_Mitigations, Time_of_Introduction
updated Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings, Weakness_Ordinalities
updated Relationships
updated Demonstrative_Examples
updated Other_Notes
updated Demonstrative_Examples
updated Common_Consequences
updated Relationships
updated Potential_Mitigations
updated Relationships
updated Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
updated Causal_Nature, Relationships
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updated References, Relationships
updated Relationships
updated Mapping_Notes
updated Detection_Factors, References
0 vulnerabilities reference this CWE, most recent first.
No vulnerabilities reference this CWE.
Mitigation
Ensure that an action form mapping enables validation. Set the validate field to true.
No CAPEC attack patterns related to this CWE.