Array Declared Public, Final, and Static
Weakness ID: 582 (Weakness Variant)Status: Draft
+ Description

Description Summary

The program declares an array public, final, and static, which is not sufficient to prevent the array's contents from being modified.

Extended Description

Because arrays are mutable objects, the final constraint requires that the array object itself be assigned only once, but makes no guarantees about the values of the array elements. Since the array is public, a malicious program can change the values stored in the array. As such, in most cases an array declared public, final and static is a bug.

+ Time of Introduction
  • Implementation
+ Applicable Platforms

Languages

Java

+ Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

The following Java Applet code mistakenly declares an array public, final and static.

(Bad Code)
Example Language: Java 
public final class urlTool extends Applet {
public final static URL[] urls;
...
}
+ Potential Mitigations

In most situations the array should be made private.

+ Background Details

Mobile code, in this case a Java Applet, is code that is transmitted across a network and executed on a remote machine. Because mobile code developers have little if any control of the environment in which their code will execute, special security concerns become relevant. One of the biggest environmental threats results from the risk that the mobile code will run side-by-side with other, potentially malicious, mobile code. Because all of the popular web browsers execute code from multiple sources together in the same JVM, many of the security guidelines for mobile code are focused on preventing manipulation of your objects' state and behavior by adversaries who have access to the same virtual machine where your program is running.

+ Weakness Ordinalities
OrdinalityDescription
Primary
(where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)
+ Relationships
NatureTypeIDNameView(s) this relationship pertains toView(s)
ChildOfCategoryCategory490Mobile Code Issues
Development Concepts (primary)699
ChildOfWeakness ClassWeakness Class668Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere
Research Concepts (primary)1000
+ Content History
Modifications
Modification DateModifierOrganizationSource
2008-07-01Eric DalciCigitalExternal
updated Time of Introduction
2008-09-08CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Description, Relationships, Other Notes, Weakness Ordinalities
2008-10-14CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Background Details, Demonstrative Examples, Description, Other Notes
2009-05-27CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Demonstrative Examples
Previous Entry Names
Change DatePrevious Entry Name
2008-04-11Mobile Code: Unsafe Array Declaration
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