CWE-668: Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere

CWE-668: Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere is a Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) entry maintained by MITRE. The product exposes a resource to the wrong control sphere, providing unintended actors with inappropriate access to the resource. Resources such as files and directories may be inadvertently exposed through mechanisms such as insecure permissions, or when a program accidentally operates on the wrong object. For example, a program may intend that private files can only be provided to a specific user. This effectively defines a control sphere that is intended to prevent attackers from accessing these private files. If the file permissions are insecure, then parties other than the user will be able to access those files. A separate control sphere might effectively require that the user can only access the private files, but not any other files on the system. If the program does not ensure that the user is only requesting private files, then the user might be able to access other files on the system. In either case, the end result is that a resource has been exposed to the wrong party.

If exploited, CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere) it can compromise Confidentiality, Integrity and Other, leading to outcomes such as Read Application Data, Modify Application Data and Varies by Context.

CWE-668 commonly affects Not Language-Specific. Note that weaknesses are often language-agnostic patterns, so secure coding practices apply broadly.

A CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) like CWE-668 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.