CWE-69

Improper Handling of Windows ::DATA Alternate Data Stream
AI Translation Available

The product does not properly prevent access to, or detect usage of, alternate data streams (ADS).

Status
incomplete
Abstraction
variant

An attacker can use an ADS to hide information about a file (e.g. size, the name of the process) from a system or file browser tools such as Windows Explorer and 'dir' at the command line utility. Alternately, the attacker might be able to bypass intended access restrictions for the associated data fork.

Common Consequences

access control non-repudiation other
Impacts
bypass protection mechanism hide activities other

Detection Methods

automated analysis

Potential Mitigations

Phases:
implementation
Descriptions:
• Ensure that the source code correctly parses the filename to read or write to the correct stream.

Functional Areas

file processing