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CWE-1321 - Improperly Controlled Modification of Object Prototype Attributes ('Prototype Pollution')

CWE-1321

  • Abstraction:
  • Variant
  • Structure:
  • Simple
  • Status:
  • Incomplete
Weakness Name

Improperly Controlled Modification of Object Prototype Attributes ('Prototype Pollution')

Description

The product receives input from an upstream component that specifies attributes that are to be initialized or updated in an object, but it does not properly control modifications of attributes of the object prototype.

By adding or modifying attributes of an object prototype, it is possible to create attributes that exist on every object, or replace critical attributes with malicious ones. This can be problematic if the product depends on existence or non-existence of certain attributes, or uses pre-defined attributes of object prototype (such as hasOwnProperty, toString or valueOf). This weakness is usually exploited by using a special attribute of objects called proto, constructor or prototype. Such attributes give access to the object prototype. This weakness is often found in code that assigns object attributes based on user input, or merges or clones objects recursively.

Common Consequences

Scope: Integrity

Impact: Modify Application Data

Notes: An attacker can inject attributes that are used in other components.

Scope: Availability

Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

Notes: An attacker can override existing attributes with ones that have incompatible type, which may lead to a crash.

Related Weaknesses
  • Release Date:
  • 2020-12-10
  • Latest Modification Date:
  • 2024-02-29

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