CWE-252
Unchecked Return Value
AI Translation Available
The product does not check the return value from a method or function, which can prevent it from detecting unexpected states and conditions.
Status
draft
Abstraction
base
Likelihood
low
Affected Platforms
Extended Description
AI Translation
Two common programmer assumptions are 'this function call can never fail' and 'it doesn't matter if this function call fails'. If an attacker can force the function to fail or otherwise return a value that is not expected, then the subsequent program logic could lead to a vulnerability, because the product is not in a state that the programmer assumes. For example, if the program calls a function to drop privileges but does not check the return code to ensure that privileges were successfully dropped, then the program will continue to operate with the higher privileges.
Technical Details
AI Translation
Common Consequences
availability
integrity
Impacts
unexpected state
dos: crash, exit, or restart
Detection Methods
automated static analysis
Potential Mitigations
Phases:
implementation
Descriptions:
•
Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is expected.
•
Ensure that you account for all possible return values from the function.
•
For any pointers that could have been modified or provided from a function that can return NULL, check the pointer for NULL before use. When working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the check, and unlock when it has finished [REF-1484].
•
When designing a function, make sure you return a value or throw an exception in case of an error.