Unsafe Mobile Code: Dangerous Array Declaration

This is a Vulnerability. To view all vulnerabilities, please see the Vulnerability Category page.

This article includes content generously donated to OWASP by

Last revision (mm/dd/yy): 10/3/2008

Vulnerabilities Table of Contents

ASDR Table of Contents

Description

The program violates secure coding principles for mobile code by declaring an array public, final and static.

In most cases an array declared public, final and static is a bug. Because arrays are mutable objects, the final constraint requires that the array object itself be assigned only once, but makes no guarantees about the values of the array elements. Since the array is public, a malicious program can change the values stored in the array. In most situations the array should be made private.

For more details about mobile code and its security concerns, please see Category:Unsafe Mobile Code.

Risk Factors

TBD

Examples

The following Java Applet code mistakenly declares an array public, final and static.

	public final class urlTool extends Applet {
		public final static URL[] urls;
		...
	}

Related Attacks

• Attack 1
• Attack 2

Related Vulnerabilities

• Vulnerability 1
• Vulnerabiltiy 2

Related Controls

• Control 1
• Control 2

Related Technical Impacts

• Technical Impact 1
• Technical Impact 2

References

TBD