CWE-462
Duplicate Key in Associative List (Alist)
AI Translation Available
Duplicate keys in associative lists can lead to non-unique keys being mistaken for an error.
Status
incomplete
Abstraction
variant
Likelihood
low
Affected Platforms
C
C#
C++
Java
Extended Description
AI Translation
A duplicate key entry -- if the alist is designed properly -- could be used as a constant time replace function. However, duplicate key entries could be inserted by mistake. Because of this ambiguity, duplicate key entries in an association list are not recommended and should not be allowed.
Technical Details
AI Translation
Common Consequences
other
Impacts
quality degradation
varies by context
Potential Mitigations
Phases:
architecture and design
Descriptions:
•
Use a hash table instead of an alist.
•
Use an alist which checks the uniqueness of hash keys with each entry before inserting the entry.