CWE-824 - Access of Uninitialized Pointer

CWE ID:

CWE-824

Abstraction:Base
Structure:Simple
Status:Incomplete

Release Date:2010-09-27
Latest Modification Date:2024-07-16

Weakness Name

Access of Uninitialized Pointer

Description

The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized.

If the pointer contains an uninitialized value, then the value might not point to a valid memory location. This could cause the product to read from or write to unexpected memory locations, leading to a denial of service. If the uninitialized pointer is used as a function call, then arbitrary functions could be invoked. If an attacker can influence the portion of uninitialized memory that is contained in the pointer, this weakness could be leveraged to execute code or perform other attacks. Depending on memory layout, associated memory management behaviors, and product operation, the attacker might be able to influence the contents of the uninitialized pointer, thus gaining more fine-grained control of the memory location to be accessed.

Common Consequences

Scope: Confidentiality

Impact: Read Memory

Notes: If the uninitialized pointer is used in a read operation, an attacker might be able to read sensitive portions of memory.

Scope: Availability

Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

Notes: If the uninitialized pointer references a memory location that is not accessible to the product, or points to a location that is "malformed" (such as NULL) or larger than expected by a read or write operation, then a crash may occur.

Scope: Integrity, Confidentiality, Availability

Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

Notes: If the uninitialized pointer is used in a function call, or points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be possible.