CWE-665 is Improper Initialization. The flaw arises when the product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource. The database currently holds 19 vulnerabilities mapped to CWE-665 and none of them are in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
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No vulnerability data in CISA KEV for CWE-665
The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource.
| Impact | Scope | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Varies by Context | Other | The resource might be left in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used. |
| Read Memory, Read Application Data | Confidentiality | When reusing a resource such as memory or a program variable, the original contents of that resource may not be cleared before it is sent to an untrusted party. |
| Bypass Protection Mechanism | Access Control | If security-critical decisions rely on a variable having a "0" or equivalent value, and the programming language performs this initialization on behalf of the programmer, then a bypass of security may occur. |
| DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart | Availability | The uninitialized data may contain values that cause program flow to change in ways that the programmer did not intend. For example, if an uninitialized variable is used as an array index in C, then its previous contents may produce an index that is outside the range of the array, possibly causing a crash or an exit in other environments. |
| Method | Approach | Effectiveness |
|---|---|---|
| Automated Dynamic Analysis | This weakness can be detected using dynamic tools and techniques that interact with the software using large test suites with many diverse inputs, such as fuzz testing (fuzzing), robustness testing, and fault injection. The software's operation may slow down, but it should not become unstable, crash, or generate incorrect results. Initialization problems may be detected with a stress-test by calling the software simultaneously from a large number of threads or processes, and look for evidence of any unexpected behavior. The software's operation may slow down, but it should not become unstable, crash, or generate incorrect results. | Moderate |
| Manual Dynamic Analysis | Identify error conditions that are not likely to occur during normal usage and trigger them. For example, run the program under low memory conditions, run with insufficient privileges or permissions, interrupt a transaction before it is completed, or disable connectivity to basic network services such as DNS. Monitor the software for any unexpected behavior. If you trigger an unhandled exception or similar error that was discovered and handled by the application's environment, it may still indicate unexpected conditions that were not handled by the application itself. | - |
| Automated Static Analysis | Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.) | High |
Below are representative vulnerabilities related to this CWE, prioritized by severity.
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