The product releases a resource that is still intended to be used by itself or another actor.
View on MITREThis weakness focuses on errors in which the product should not release a resource, but performs the release anyway. This is different than a weakness in which the product releases a resource at the appropriate time, but it maintains a reference to the resource, which it later accesses. For this weakness, the resource should still be valid upon the subsequent access. When a product releases a resource that is still being used, it is possible that operations will still be taken on this resource, which may have been repurposed in the meantime, leading to issues similar to CWE-825. Consequences may include denial of service, information exposure, or code execution.
If the released resource is subsequently reused or reallocated, then a read operation on the original resource might access sensitive data that is associated with a different user or entity.
When the resource is released, the software might modify some of its structure, or close associated channels (such as a file descriptor). When the software later accesses the resource as if it is valid, the resource might not be in an expected state, leading to resultant errors that may lead to a crash.
When the resource is released, the software might modify some of its structure. This might affect logic in the sections of code that still assume the resource is active. If the released resource is related to memory and is used in a function call, or points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be possible upon subsequent accesses.
No mitigation information available for this CWE.
No detection method information available for this CWE.
Chain: race condition (CWE-362) might allow resource to be released before operating on it, leading to NULL dereference (CWE-476)
View DetailsCWE-826: Premature Release of Resource During Expected Lifetime is a Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) entry maintained by MITRE. The product releases a resource that is still intended to be used by itself or another actor. This weakness focuses on errors in which the product should not release a resource, but performs the release anyway. This is different than a weakness in which the product releases a resource at the appropriate time, but it maintains a reference to the resource, which it later accesses. For this weakness, the resource should still be valid upon the subsequent access. When a product releases a resource that is still being used, it is possible that operations will still be taken on this resource, which may have been repurposed in the meantime, leading to issues similar to CWE-825. Consequences may include denial of service, information exposure, or code execution.
If exploited, CWE-826 (Premature Release of Resource During Expected Lifetime) it can compromise Confidentiality, Availability and Integrity, leading to outcomes such as Read Application Data, Read Memory, DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Modify Application Data and Modify Memory.
MITRE documents real CVEs mapped to CWE-826, including CVE-2009-3547. 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-826 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.