Base · Medium

CWE-167: Improper Handling of Additional Special Element

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles when an additional unexpected special element is provided.

CWE-167 · Base Level ·3 CVEs ·4 Mitigations

Description

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles when an additional unexpected special element is provided.

Potential Impact

Integrity

Unexpected State

Mitigations & Prevention

General

Developers should anticipate that extra special elements will be injected in the input vectors of their product. Use an appropriate combination of denylists and allowlists to ensure only valid, expected and appropriate input is processed by the system.

Implementation

Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across relat

Implementation

While it is risky to use dynamically-generated query strings, code, or commands that mix control and data together, sometimes it may be unavoidable. Properly quote arguments and escape any special characters within those arguments. The most conservative approach is to escape or filter all characters that do not pass an extremely strict allowlist (such as everything that is not alphanumeric or white space). If some special characters are still needed, such as white space, wrap each argument in qu

Implementation

Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174). Such errors could be used to bypass allowlist validation schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked.

Real-World CVE Examples

CVE IDDescription
CVE-2000-0116Extra "<" in front of SCRIPT tag bypasses XSS prevention.
CVE-2001-1157Extra "<" in front of SCRIPT tag.
CVE-2002-2086"<script" - probably a cleansing error

Taxonomy Mappings

  • PLOVER: — Extra Special Element

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CWE-167?

CWE-167 (Improper Handling of Additional Special Element) is a software weakness identified by MITRE's Common Weakness Enumeration. It is classified as a Base-level weakness. The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles when an additional unexpected special element is provided.

How can CWE-167 be exploited?

Attackers can exploit CWE-167 (Improper Handling of Additional Special Element) to unexpected state. This weakness is typically introduced during the Implementation phase of software development.

How do I prevent CWE-167?

Key mitigations include: Developers should anticipate that extra special elements will be injected in the input vectors of their product. Use an appropriate combination of denylists and allowlists to ensure only valid, expect

What is the severity of CWE-167?

CWE-167 is classified as a Base-level weakness (Medium abstraction). It has been observed in 3 real-world CVEs.