CWE-127 – Buffer Under-read

Read Time:46 Second

Description

The software reads from a buffer using buffer access mechanisms such as indexes or pointers that reference memory locations prior to the targeted buffer.

This typically occurs when the pointer or its index is decremented to a position before the buffer, when pointer arithmetic results in a position before the beginning of the valid memory location, or when a negative index is used. This may result in exposure of sensitive information or possibly a crash.

Modes of Introduction:

– Implementation

 

 

Related Weaknesses

CWE-125
CWE-786

 

Consequences

Confidentiality: Read Memory

Confidentiality: Bypass Protection Mechanism

By reading out-of-bounds memory, an attacker might be able to get secret values, such as memory addresses, which can be bypass protection mechanisms such as ASLR in order to improve the reliability and likelihood of exploiting a separate weakness to achieve code execution instead of just denial of service.

 

Potential Mitigations

CVE References