Incorrect Ownership Assignment
Incomplete Base
Structure: Simple
Description
The product assigns an owner to a resource, but the owner is outside of the intended control sphere.
This may allow the resource to be manipulated by actors outside of the intended control sphere.
Common Consequences 1
Scope: ConfidentialityIntegrity
Impact: Read Application DataModify Application Data
An attacker could read and modify data for which they do not have permissions to access directly.
Potential Mitigations 2
Phase: Policy
Periodically review the privileges and their owners.
Phase: Testing
Use automated tools to check for privilege settings.
Observed Examples 6
CVE-2007-5101File system sets wrong ownership and group when creating a new file.
CVE-2007-4238OS installs program with bin owner/group, allowing modification.
CVE-2007-1716Manager does not properly restore ownership of a reusable resource when a user logs out, allowing privilege escalation.
CVE-2005-3148Backup software restores symbolic links with incorrect uid/gid.
CVE-2005-1064Product changes the ownership of files that a symlink points to, instead of the symlink itself.
CVE-2011-1551Component assigns ownership of sensitive directory tree to a user account, which can be leveraged to perform privileged operations.
Applicable Platforms
Languages:
Not Language-Specific : Undetermined
Modes of Introduction
Architecture and Design
Implementation
Operation
Related Weaknesses
Notes
Maintenance
This overlaps verification errors, permissions, and privileges.
A closely related weakness is the incorrect assignment of groups to a resource. It is not clear whether it would fall under this entry or require a different entry.