CWE-7 – J2EE Misconfiguration: Missing Custom Error Page

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Description

The default error page of a web application should not display sensitive information about the software system.

Modes of Introduction:

– Architecture and Design

Likelihood of Exploit:

 

Related Weaknesses

CWE-756

 

Consequences

Confidentiality: Read Application Data

A stack trace might show the attacker a malformed SQL query string, the type of database being used, and the version of the application container. This information enables the attacker to target known vulnerabilities in these components.

 

Potential Mitigations

Phase: Implementation

Effectiveness:

Description: 

Handle exceptions appropriately in source code.

Phase: Implementation, System Configuration

Effectiveness:

Description: 

Always define appropriate error pages. The application configuration should specify a default error page in order to guarantee that the application will never leak error messages to an attacker. Handling standard HTTP error codes is useful and user-friendly in addition to being a good security practice, and a good configuration will also define a last-chance error handler that catches any exception that could possibly be thrown by the application.

Phase: Implementation

Effectiveness:

Description: 

Do not attempt to process an error or attempt to mask it.

Phase: Implementation

Effectiveness:

Description: 

Verify return values are correct and do not supply sensitive information about the system.

CVE References