Unsafe Mobile Code

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Abstract

The program violates secure coding principles for mobile code by returning a private array variable from a public access method.

Description

Returning a private array variable from a public access method allows the calling code to modify the contents of the array, effectively giving the array public access and contradicting the intentions of the programmer who made it private.

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

Examples

The following Java Applet code mistakenly returns a private array variable from a public access method.

	public final class urlTool extends Applet {
		private URL[] urls;
		public URL[] getURLs() {
			return urls;
		}
			...
	}

Related Principles

Use encapsulation