CWE-67: Improper Handling of Windows Device Names

What is CWE-67?

CWE-67 is Improper Handling of Windows Device Names. The flaw arises when The product constructs pathnames from user input, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles a pathname containing a Windows device name such as AUX or CON. The database currently holds 5 vulnerabilities mapped to CWE-67 and none of them are in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Analyzing data...

OWASP Top 10 Rank-
Related CVES (365 days)5
AbstractionVariant
Likelihood of exploitHigh

Vulnerabilities mapped to CWE-67

5 vulnerabilities400% increase year over year

No data

No vulnerability data in CISA KEV for CWE-67

Official definition

ByMitre CWE

The product constructs pathnames from user input, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles a pathname containing a Windows device name such as AUX or CON. This typically leads to denial of service or an information exposure when the application attempts to process the pathname as a regular file.

Not properly handling virtual filenames (e.g. AUX, CON, PRN, COM1, LPT1) can result in different types of vulnerabilities. In some cases an attacker can request a device via injection of a virtual filename in a URL, which may cause an error that leads to a denial of service or an error page that reveals sensitive information. A product that allows device names to bypass filtering runs the risk of an attacker injecting malicious code in a file with the name of a device.

Historically, there was a bug in the Windows operating system that caused a blue screen of death. Even after that issue was fixed DOS device names continue to be a factor.

Characteristics

Modes of introduction

  • Implementation
  • Operation

Common consequences

ImpactScopeExplanation
DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart, Read Application Data, OtherAvailability, Confidentiality, Other-

Risk mitigations

  1. ImplementationBe familiar with the device names in the operating system where your system is deployed. Check input for these device names.

Representative vulnerabilities

Sources (2)

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