J2EE Bad Practices: Direct Use of Threads
Weakness ID: 383 (Weakness Variant)Status: Draft
+ Description

Description Summary

Thread management in a Web application is forbidden in some circumstances and is always highly error prone.
+ Time of Introduction
  • Architecture and Design
  • Implementation
+ Applicable Platforms

Languages

Java

+ Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

In the following example, a new Thread object is created and invoked directly from within the body of a doGet() method in a Java servlet.

(Bad Code)
Example Language: Java 
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
// Perform servlet tasks.
...

// Create a new thread to handle background processing.
Runnable r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// Process and store request statistics.
...
}
};

new Thread(r).start();
}
+ Potential Mitigations

For EJB, use framework approaches for parallel execution, instead of using threads.

+ Other Notes

Thread management in a web application is forbidden by the J2EE standard in some circumstances and is always highly error prone. Managing threads is difficult and is likely to interfere in unpredictable ways with the behavior of the application container. Even without interfering with the container, thread management usually leads to bugs that are hard to detect and diagnose like deadlock, race conditions, and other synchronization errors.

+ Relationships
NatureTypeIDNameView(s) this relationship pertains toView(s)
ChildOfCategoryCategory361Time and State
Seven Pernicious Kingdoms (primary)700
ChildOfCategoryCategory381J2EE Time and State Issues
Development Concepts (primary)699
ChildOfCategoryCategory634Weaknesses that Affect System Processes
Resource-specific Weaknesses (primary)631
ChildOfWeakness BaseWeakness Base695Use of Low-Level Functionality
Research Concepts (primary)1000
ParentOfWeakness VariantWeakness Variant543Use of Singleton Pattern in a Non-thread-safe Manner
Development Concepts (primary)699
+ Affected Resources
  • System Process
+ Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy NameNode IDFitMapped Node Name
7 Pernicious KingdomsJ2EE Bad Practices: Threads
+ Content History
Submissions
Submission DateSubmitterOrganizationSource
7 Pernicious KingdomsExternally Mined
Modifications
Modification DateModifierOrganizationSource
2008-07-01Sean EidemillerCigitalExternal
added/updated demonstrative examples
2008-07-01Eric DalciCigitalExternal
updated Time of Introduction
2008-09-08CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Relationships, Other Notes, Taxonomy Mappings
Previous Entry Names
Change DatePrevious Entry Name
2008-01-30J2EE Bad Practices: Threads
2008-04-11J2EE Bad Practices: Use of Threads
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