The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized.
View on MITREIf the pointer contains an uninitialized value, then the value might not point to a valid memory location. This could cause the product to read from or write to unexpected memory locations, leading to a denial of service. If the uninitialized pointer is used as a function call, then arbitrary functions could be invoked. If an attacker can influence the portion of uninitialized memory that is contained in the pointer, this weakness could be leveraged to execute code or perform other attacks. Depending on memory layout, associated memory management behaviors, and product operation, the attacker might be able to influence the contents of the uninitialized pointer, thus gaining more fine-grained control of the memory location to be accessed.
If the uninitialized pointer is used in a read operation, an attacker might be able to read sensitive portions of memory.
If the uninitialized pointer references a memory location that is not accessible to the product, or points to a location that is "malformed" (such as NULL) or larger than expected by a read or write operation, then a crash may occur.
If the uninitialized pointer is used in a function call, or points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be possible.
No mitigation information available for this CWE.
No detection method information available for this CWE.
Chain: secure communications library does not initialize a local variable for a data structure (CWE-456), leading to access of an uninitialized pointer (CWE-824).
View DetailsChain: C union member is not initialized (CWE-456), leading to access of invalid pointer (CWE-824)
View Detailschain: unchecked return value (CWE-252) leads to free of invalid, uninitialized pointer (CWE-824).
View DetailsPointer in structure is not initialized, leading to NULL pointer dereference (CWE-476) and system crash.
View DetailsStep-based manipulation: invocation of debugging function before the primary initialization function leads to access of an uninitialized pointer and code execution.
View DetailsLDAP server mishandles malformed BER queries, leading to free of uninitialized memory
View DetailsFirewall can crash with certain ICMP packets that trigger access of an uninitialized pointer.
View DetailsLDAP server does not initialize members of structs, which leads to free of uninitialized pointer if an LDAP request fails.
View DetailsNo relationship information available for this CWE.
CWE-824: Access of Uninitialized Pointer is a Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) entry maintained by MITRE. The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized. If the pointer contains an uninitialized value, then the value might not point to a valid memory location. This could cause the product to read from or write to unexpected memory locations, leading to a denial of service. If the uninitialized pointer is used as a function call, then arbitrary functions could be invoked. If an attacker can influence the portion of uninitialized memory that is contained in the pointer, this weakness could be leveraged to execute code or perform other attacks. Depending on memory layout, associated memory management behaviors, and product operation, the attacker might be able to influence the contents of the uninitialized pointer, thus gaining more fine-grained control of the memory location to be accessed.
If exploited, CWE-824 (Access of Uninitialized Pointer) it can compromise Confidentiality, Availability and Integrity, leading to outcomes such as Read Memory, DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart and Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands.
CWE-824 commonly affects C and C++. Note that weaknesses are often language-agnostic patterns, so secure coding practices apply broadly.
MITRE documents real CVEs mapped to CWE-824, including CVE-2024-32878, CVE-2019-3836, CVE-2018-14641, CVE-2010-0211 and CVE-2009-2768. You can look up the full details of each CVE, including CVSS scores and remediation guidance, on our CVE Lookup tool.
A CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) like CWE-824 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.