CWE-468

Incorrect Pointer Scaling

Medium Risk

Weakness Description

In C and C++, one may often accidentally refer to the wrong memory due to the semantics of when math operations are implicitly scaled.

Potential Mitigations

Architecture and Design

Use a platform with high-level memory abstractions.

Implementation

Always use array indexing instead of direct pointer manipulation.

Architecture and Design

Use technologies for preventing buffer overflows.

Common Consequences

ConfidentialityIntegrity
Read MemoryModify Memory

Incorrect pointer scaling will often result in buffer overflow conditions. Confidentiality can be compromised if the weakness is in the context of a buffer over-read or under-read.

Detection Methods

Automated Static Analysis

Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)

Effectiveness: High

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