CWE-253: Incorrect Check of Function Return Value
Description
The product incorrectly checks a return value from a function, which prevents it from detecting errors or exceptional conditions.
Important and common functions will return some value about the success of its actions. This will alert the program whether or not to handle any errors caused by that function.
- Abstraction
- BaseA weakness specific enough to point to detection and prevention methods.
- Likelihood of exploit
- Low
- Status
- Incomplete
Common consequences
- AvailabilityIntegrity
Unexpected State; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
An unexpected return value could place the system in a state that could lead to a crash or other unintended behaviors.
Potential mitigations
- Architecture and DesignLanguage Selection
Use a language or compiler that uses exceptions and requires the catching of those exceptions.
- Implementation
Properly check all functions which return a value.
- Implementation
When designing any function make sure you return a value or throw an exception in case of an error.
Related weaknesses
CAPEC attack patterns that exploit it
CWE 4.20 links no CAPEC attack pattern to this weakness.