CWE-463
Deletion of Data Structure Sentinel
AI Translation Available
The accidental deletion of a data-structure sentinel can cause serious programming logic problems.
Status
incomplete
Abstraction
base
Affected Platforms
C
C++
Extended Description
AI Translation
Often times data-structure sentinels are used to mark structure of the data structure. A common example of this is the null character at the end of strings. Another common example is linked lists which may contain a sentinel to mark the end of the list. It is dangerous to allow this type of control data to be easily accessible. Therefore, it is important to protect from the deletion or modification outside of some wrapper interface which provides safety.
Technical Details
AI Translation
Common Consequences
availability
other
authorization
Impacts
other
Potential Mitigations
Phases:
architecture and design
build and compilation
operation
Descriptions:
•
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
•
Use OS-level preventative functionality. Not a complete solution.
•
Run or compile the software using features or extensions that automatically provide a protection mechanism that mitigates or eliminates buffer overflows.
For example, certain compilers and extensions provide automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are built into the compiled code. Examples include the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice.