Improper Sanitization of Variable Name Delimiters
Weakness ID: 154 (Weakness Variant)Status: Incomplete
+ Description

Description Summary

The software receives input from an upstream component, but it does not sanitize or incorrectly sanitizes special elements that could be interpreted as variable name delimiters when they are sent to a downstream component.

Extended Description

As data is parsed, an injected delimiter may cause the process to take unexpected actions that result in an attack. Example: "$" for an environment variable.

+ Time of Introduction
  • Implementation
+ Applicable Platforms

Languages

All

+ Observed Examples
ReferenceDescription
CVE-2005-0129"%" variable is expanded by wildcard function into disallowed commands.
CVE-2002-0770Server trusts client to expand macros, allows macro characters to be expanded to trigger resultant infoleak.
+ Potential Mitigations

Developers should anticipate that variable name delimiters will be injected/removed/manipulated in the input vectors of their software system. Use an appropriate combination of black lists and white lists to ensure only valid, expected and appropriate input is processed by the system.

Phase: Architecture and Design

Assume all input is malicious. Use a standard input validation mechanism to validate all input for length, type, syntax, and business rules before accepting the data to be displayed or stored. Use an "accept known good" validation strategy.

Use and specify a strong output encoding (such as ISO 8859-1 or UTF 8).

Do not rely exclusively on blacklist validation to detect malicious input or to encode output. There are too many variants to encode a character; you're likely to miss some variants.

Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated. Make sure that your application does not decode the same input twice. Such errors could be used to bypass whitelist schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked.

+ Relationships
NatureTypeIDNameView(s) this relationship pertains toView(s)
ChildOfWeakness ClassWeakness Class138Improper Sanitization of Special Elements
Development Concepts (primary)699
Research Concepts (primary)1000
+ Research Gaps

Under-studied.

+ Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy NameNode IDFitMapped Node Name
PLOVERVariable Name Delimiter
+ Related Attack Patterns
CAPEC-IDAttack Pattern Name
(CAPEC Version: 1.4)
15Command Delimiters
+ Content History
Submissions
Submission DateSubmitterOrganizationSource
PLOVERExternally Mined
Modifications
Modification DateModifierOrganizationSource
2008-07-01Eric DalciCigitalExternal
updated Potential Mitigations, Time of Introduction
2008-09-08CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Relationships, Taxonomy Mappings
2008-10-14CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Description
2009-03-10CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Description, Name
2009-07-27CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Potential Mitigations
Previous Entry Names
Change DatePrevious Entry Name
2008-01-30Variable Name Delimiter
2008-04-11Failure to Remove Variable Name Delimiter
2009-03-10Failure to Sanitize Variable Name Delimiter