This site is the archived OWASP Foundation Wiki and is no longer accepting Account Requests.
To view the new OWASP Foundation website, please visit https://owasp.org

Difference between revisions of "Unsafe Mobile Code: Public finalize() Method"

From OWASP
Jump to: navigation, search
(Contents provided by Fortify.)
 
(Moved the definition of mobile code and its security concern to :Category:Unsafe Mobile Code)
Line 9: Line 9:
  
 
A program should never call finalize explicitly, except to call super.finalize() inside an implementation of finialize(). In mobile code situations, the otherwise error prone practice of manual garbage collection can become a security threat if an attacker can maliciously invoke one of your finalize() methods because it is declared with public access. If you are using finalize() as it was designed, there is no reason to declare finalize() with anything other than protected access.
 
A program should never call finalize explicitly, except to call super.finalize() inside an implementation of finialize(). In mobile code situations, the otherwise error prone practice of manual garbage collection can become a security threat if an attacker can maliciously invoke one of your finalize() methods because it is declared with public access. If you are using finalize() as it was designed, there is no reason to declare finalize() with anything other than protected access.
 +
 +
For more details about mobile code and its security concerns, please see [[:Category:Unsafe Mobile Code]].
  
 
==Examples ==
 
==Examples ==
Line 23: Line 25:
  
 
</pre>
 
</pre>
−
 
−
Mobile code, in this case a Java Applet, is code that is transmitted across a network and executed on a remote machine. Because mobile code developers have little if any control of the environment in which their code will execute, special security concerns become relevant. One of the biggest environmental threats results from the risk that the mobile code will run side-by-side with other, potentially malicious, mobile code. Because all of the popular web browsers execute code from multiple sources together in the same JVM, many of the security guidelines for mobile code are focused on preventing manipulation of your objects' state and behavior by adversaries who have access to the same virtual machine where your program is running.
 
  
 
==Related Threats==
 
==Related Threats==
Line 39: Line 39:
  
 
[[Category:Access Control Vulnerability]]
 
[[Category:Access Control Vulnerability]]
 +
 +
[[Category:Unsafe Mobile Code]]
  
 
[[Category:Java]]
 
[[Category:Java]]

Revision as of 17:23, 21 July 2006

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

This article includes content generously donated to OWASP by MicroFocus Logo.png

Abstract

The program violates secure coding principles for mobile code by declaring a finalize()method public.

Description

A program should never call finalize explicitly, except to call super.finalize() inside an implementation of finialize(). In mobile code situations, the otherwise error prone practice of manual garbage collection can become a security threat if an attacker can maliciously invoke one of your finalize() methods because it is declared with public access. If you are using finalize() as it was designed, there is no reason to declare finalize() with anything other than protected access.

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

Examples

The following Java Applet code mistakenly declares a public finalize() method. 

	public final class urlTool extends Applet {
		public void finalize() {
			...
		}
		...
	}

Related Threats

Related Attacks

Related Vulnerabilities

Related Countermeasures

Categories

Retrieved from "https://wiki.owasp.org/index.php?title=Unsafe_Mobile_Code:_Public_finalize()_Method&oldid=7757"