CWE-403: Exposure of File Descriptor to Unintended Control Sphere ('File Descriptor Leak')

BaseDraft

A process does not close sensitive file descriptors before invoking a child process, which allows the child to perform unauthorized I/O operations using those descriptors.

View on MITRE
Back to CWE Lookup

Extended Description

When a new process is forked or executed, the child process inherits any open file descriptors. When the child process has fewer privileges than the parent process, this might introduce a vulnerability if the child process can access the file descriptor but does not have the privileges to access the associated file.

Technical Details

Structure
Simple

Applicable To

Languages
CNot Language-Specific
Platforms
Unix

Learn More