Kingdom: Security Features
Software security is not security software. Here we're concerned with topics like authentication, access control, confidentiality, cryptography, and privilege management.
Privilege Management: Overly Broad Access Specifier
Abstract
Privileged code in
public methods can be called from anywhere in the JVM.Explanation
Secure coding principles advocate making access specifiers as restrictive as possible. A method with a
Example 1: In the following code,
public access specifier means that any external code is allowed to call it. Public methods that perform privileged actions can be dangerous when code is shared in libraries or in environments where code can dynamically enter the system (e.g. Code Injection, Dangerous File Inclusion, File Upload, etc).Example 1: In the following code,
doPrivilegedOpenFile() is declared public and performs a privileged operation.
public static void doPrivilegedOpenFile(final String filePath) {
final BadFileNamePrivilegedAction pa = new BadFileNamePrivilegedAction(filePath);
FileInputStream fis = null;
...
fis = (FileInputStream)AccessController.doPrivileged(pa);
...
}
References
[1] Secure Coding Guidelines for the Java Programming Language, version 2.0 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
[2] M. S. Ware Writing secure Java code: taxonomy of heuristics and an evaluation of static analysis tools
[3] FUNDAMENTALS-3: Restrict privileges Oracle
[4] ACCESS-3: Safely invoke java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged Oracle
[5] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration CWE ID 749
[6] Standards Mapping - DISA Control Correlation Identifier Version 2 CCI-000381, CCI-002233, CCI-002235
[7] Standards Mapping - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Access Violation
[8] Standards Mapping - NIST Special Publication 800-53 Revision 4 AC-6 Least Privilege (P1), CM-7 Least Functionality (P1)
[9] Standards Mapping - NIST Special Publication 800-53 Revision 5 AC-6 Least Privilege, CM-7 Least Functionality
[10] Standards Mapping - OWASP Application Security Verification Standard 4.0 14.5.1 Validate HTTP Request Header Requirements (L1 L2 L3)
[11] Standards Mapping - OWASP Mobile 2014 M5 Poor Authorization and Authentication
[12] Standards Mapping - OWASP Mobile 2024 M3 Insecure Authentication/Authorization
[13] Standards Mapping - OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard 2.0 MASVS-AUTH-1
[14] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 1.2 Requirement 6.5.7, Requirement 7.2
[15] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 2.0 Requirement 6.5.8
[16] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 3.0 Requirement 6.5.10
[17] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 3.1 Requirement 6.5.10
[18] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 3.2 Requirement 6.5.10
[19] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 3.2.1 Requirement 6.5.10
[20] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 4.0 Requirement 6.2.4
[21] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 4.0.1 Requirement 6.2.4
[22] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Software Security Framework 1.0 Control Objective 4.2 - Critical Asset Protection
[23] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Software Security Framework 1.1 Control Objective 4.2 - Critical Asset Protection
[24] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Software Security Framework 1.2 Control Objective 4.2 - Critical Asset Protection
[25] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.1 APP3500 CAT II
[26] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.4 APP3500 CAT II
[27] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.5 APP3500 CAT II
[28] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.6 APP3500 CAT II
[29] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.7 APP3500 CAT II
[30] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.9 APP3500 CAT II
[31] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.10 APP3500 CAT II
[32] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.2 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[33] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.3 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[34] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.4 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[35] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.5 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[36] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.6 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[37] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.7 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[38] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.8 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[39] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.9 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[40] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.10 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[41] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.11 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[42] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.1 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[43] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 5.1 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[44] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 5.2 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[45] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 5.3 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[46] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 6.1 APSC-DV-000500 CAT II, APSC-DV-000510 CAT I, APSC-DV-001500 CAT II
[47] Standards Mapping - Web Application Security Consortium Version 2.00 Insufficient Authorization (WASC-02)
[48] Standards Mapping - Web Application Security Consortium 24 + 2 Insufficient Authorization
desc.structural.java.privilege_management_overly_broad_access_specifier