Variant · Low-Medium

CWE-173: Improper Handling of Alternate Encoding

The product does not properly handle when an input uses an alternate encoding that is valid for the control sphere to which the input is being sent.

CWE-173 · Variant Level ·4 Mitigations

Description

The product does not properly handle when an input uses an alternate encoding that is valid for the control sphere to which the input is being sent.

Potential Impact

Access Control

Bypass Protection Mechanism

Mitigations & Prevention

Architecture and Design

Avoid making decisions based on names of resources (e.g. files) if those resources can have alternate names.

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

Use and specify an output encoding that can be handled by the downstream component that is reading the output. Common encodings include ISO-8859-1, UTF-7, and UTF-8. When an encoding is not specified, a downstream component may choose a different encoding, either by assuming a default encoding or automatically inferring which encoding is being used, which can be erroneous. When the encodings are inconsistent, the downstream component might treat some character or byte sequences as special, even

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.

Taxonomy Mappings

  • PLOVER: — Alternate Encoding

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CWE-173?

CWE-173 (Improper Handling of Alternate Encoding) is a software weakness identified by MITRE's Common Weakness Enumeration. It is classified as a Variant-level weakness. The product does not properly handle when an input uses an alternate encoding that is valid for the control sphere to which the input is being sent.

How can CWE-173 be exploited?

Attackers can exploit CWE-173 (Improper Handling of Alternate Encoding) to bypass protection mechanism. This weakness is typically introduced during the Implementation phase of software development.

How do I prevent CWE-173?

Key mitigations include: Avoid making decisions based on names of resources (e.g. files) if those resources can have alternate names.

What is the severity of CWE-173?

CWE-173 is classified as a Variant-level weakness (Low-Medium abstraction). Its actual severity depends on the specific context and how the weakness manifests in your application.