Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
Strategy: Environment Hardening Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks [ REF-76 ]. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment. For example, database applications rarely need to run as the database administrator, especially in day-to-day operations.
No detection method information available for this CWE.
No examples or observed CVEs available for this CWE.
No relationship information available for this CWE.
CWE-266: CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment is a Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) entry maintained by MITRE. Description
If exploited, CWE-266 (CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment) it can compromise Gain Privileges or Assume Identity, leading to outcomes such as Scope: Access Control A user can access restricted functionality and/or sensitive information that may include administrative functionality and user accounts..
Recommended mitigations for CWE-266 include: Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software. Strategy: Environment Hardening Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks [ REF-76 ]. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment. For example, database applications rarely need to run as the database administrator, especially in day-to-day operations.
CWE-266 commonly affects Languages. Note that weaknesses are often language-agnostic patterns, so secure coding practices apply broadly.
A CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) like CWE-266 describes a category of software weakness — the underlying flaw type. A CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) identifies a specific, real-world vulnerability in a particular product. In short, a CWE is the kind of mistake, and a CVE is an instance of that mistake being found in software.