CWE-588: Attempt to Access Child of a Non-structure Pointer
Description
Casting a non-structure type to a structure type and accessing a field can lead to memory access errors or data corruption.
- Abstraction
- VariantA weakness tied to a specific language, technology or resource.
- Likelihood of exploit
- Not rated by MITRE
- Status
- Incomplete
Common consequences
- Integrity
Modify Memory
Adjacent variables in memory may be corrupted by assignments performed on fields after the cast.
- Availability
DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
Execution may end due to a memory access error.
Potential mitigations
- Requirements
The choice could be made to use a language that is not susceptible to these issues.
- Implementation
Review of type casting operations can identify locations where incompatible types are cast.
Related weaknesses
CAPEC attack patterns that exploit it
CWE 4.20 links no CAPEC attack pattern to this weakness.