Privilege Dropping / Lowering Errors

CWE-271

CVSS severity (NVD, All Time)

Short description

The product does not drop privileges before passing control of a resource to an actor that does not have those privileges.

Extended description

In some contexts, a system executing with elevated permissions will hand off a process/file/etc. to another process or user. If the privileges of an entity are not reduced, then elevated privileges are spread throughout a system and possibly to an attacker.

Best practices to prevent this CWE

Phase: Architecture and Design

Strategy: Separation of Privilege

Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.

Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.

Phase: Architecture and Design; Operation

Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.

Phase: Architecture and Design

Strategy: Separation of Privilege

Consider following the principle of separation of privilege. Require multiple conditions to be met before permitting access to a system resource.

Recently published CVEs

CVE-2024-0985
CVE-2020-35513

Prioritize and Uncover Reachable Vulnerabilities in Your Application Code

Identify externally reachable data flows and vulnerabilities for effective risk mitigation

Get a Demo