CWE - CWE-276: Incorrect Default Permissions (4.18)

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CWE Glossary Definition

CWE-276: Incorrect Default Permissions

Weakness ID: 276

Vulnerability Mapping: ALLOWED This CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities
Abstraction: Base Base - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.

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Description

During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.

Common Consequences

Section HelpThis table specifies different individual consequences associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to achieve a different impact.

Impact	Details
Read Application Data; Modify Application Data	Scope: Confidentiality, Integrity

Potential Mitigations

Phase(s)	Mitigation
Architecture and Design; Operation	The architecture needs to access and modification attributes for files to only those users who actually require those actions.
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(s)

Mitigation

Architecture and Design; Operation

The architecture needs to access and modification attributes for files to only those users who actually require those actions.

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.

Relationships

Section Help This table shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOf and give insight to similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such as PeerOf and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user may want to explore.

Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (View-1000)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
ChildOf	Class Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.	732	Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

Relevant to the view "Software Development" (View-699)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	Category Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	275	Permission Issues

Relevant to the view "Weaknesses for Simplified Mapping of Published Vulnerabilities" (View-1003)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
ChildOf	Class Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.	732	Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

Relevant to the view "Architectural Concepts" (View-1008)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	Category Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1011	Authorize Actors

Relevant to the view "Hardware Design" (View-1194)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	Category Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1198	Privilege Separation and Access Control Issues

Modes Of Introduction

Section HelpThe different Modes of Introduction provide information about how and when this weakness may be introduced. The Phase identifies a point in the life cycle at which introduction may occur, while the Note provides a typical scenario related to introduction during the given phase.

Phase	Note
Architecture and Design
Implementation
Installation
Operation

Applicable Platforms

Section HelpThis listing shows possible areas for which the given weakness could appear. These may be for specific named Languages, Operating Systems, Architectures, Paradigms, Technologies, or a class of such platforms. The platform is listed along with how frequently the given weakness appears for that instance.

Languages

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

Technologies

Class: Not Technology-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

Class: ICS/OT (Undetermined Prevalence)

Likelihood Of Exploit

Medium

Selected Observed Examples

Note: this is a curated list of examples for users to understand the variety of ways in which this weakness can be introduced. It is not a complete list of all CVEs that are related to this CWE entry.

Reference	Description
CVE-2005-1941	Executables installed world-writable.
CVE-2002-1713	Home directories installed world-readable.
CVE-2001-1550	World-writable log files allow information loss; world-readable file has cleartext passwords.
CVE-2002-1711	World-readable directory.
CVE-2002-1844	Windows product uses insecure permissions when installing on Solaris (genesis: port error).
CVE-2001-0497	Insecure permissions for a shared secret key file. Overlaps cryptographic problem.
CVE-1999-0426	Default permissions of a device allow IP spoofing.

Weakness Ordinalities

Ordinality	Description
Primary	(where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)

Detection Methods

Method	Details
Automated Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode	According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Inter-application Flow Analysis Effectiveness: SOAR Partial
Manual Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode	According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Binary / Bytecode disassembler - then use manual analysis for vulnerabilities & anomalies Effectiveness: SOAR Partial
Dynamic Analysis with Automated Results Interpretation	According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Host-based Vulnerability Scanners - Examine configuration for flaws, verifying that audit mechanisms work, ensure host configuration meets certain predefined criteria Web Application Scanner Web Services Scanner Database Scanners Effectiveness: SOAR Partial
Dynamic Analysis with Manual Results Interpretation	According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: Highly cost effective: Host Application Interface Scanner Cost effective for partial coverage: Fuzz Tester Framework-based Fuzzer Automated Monitored Execution Forced Path Execution Effectiveness: High
Manual Static Analysis - Source Code	According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: Highly cost effective: Manual Source Code Review (not inspections) Cost effective for partial coverage: Focused Manual Spotcheck - Focused manual analysis of source Effectiveness: High
Automated Static Analysis - Source Code	According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Context-configured Source Code Weakness Analyzer Effectiveness: SOAR Partial
Automated Static Analysis	According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: Cost effective for partial coverage: Configuration Checker Effectiveness: SOAR Partial
Architecture or Design Review	According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful: Highly cost effective: Formal Methods / Correct-By-Construction Cost effective for partial coverage: Inspection (IEEE 1028 standard) (can apply to requirements, design, source code, etc.) Effectiveness: High

Memberships

Section HelpThis MemberOf Relationships table shows additional CWE Categories and Views that reference this weakness as a member. This information is often useful in understanding where a weakness fits within the context of external information sources.

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	743	CERT C Secure Coding Standard (2008) Chapter 10 - Input Output (FIO)
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	857	The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011) Chapter 14 - Input Output (FIO)
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	877	CERT C++ Secure Coding Section 09 - Input Output (FIO)
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	946	SFP Secondary Cluster: Insecure Resource Permissions
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1147	SEI CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java - Guidelines 13. Input Output (FIO)
MemberOf	ViewView - a subset of CWE entries that provides a way of examining CWE content. The two main view structures are Slices (flat lists) and Graphs (containing relationships between entries).	1337	Weaknesses in the 2021 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1345	OWASP Top Ten 2021 Category A01:2021 - Broken Access Control
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1366	ICS Communications: Frail Security in Protocols
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1376	ICS Engineering (Construction/Deployment): Security Gaps in Commissioning
MemberOf	ViewView - a subset of CWE entries that provides a way of examining CWE content. The two main view structures are Slices (flat lists) and Graphs (containing relationships between entries).	1387	Weaknesses in the 2022 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1396	Comprehensive Categorization: Access Control
MemberOf	ViewView - a subset of CWE entries that provides a way of examining CWE content. The two main view structures are Slices (flat lists) and Graphs (containing relationships between entries).	1425	Weaknesses in the 2023 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Usage ALLOWED

(this CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)

Reason Acceptable-Use

Rationale

This CWE entry is at the Base level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.

Comments

Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

Taxonomy Mappings

Mapped Taxonomy Name	Node ID	Fit
PLOVER	Insecure Default Permissions
CERT C Secure Coding	FIO06-C	Create files with appropriate access permissions
The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011)	FIO01-J	Create files with appropriate access permission
ISA/IEC 62443	Part 2-4	Req SP.03.08
ISA/IEC 62443	Part 4-2	Req CR 2.1

Related Attack Patterns

CAPEC-ID	Attack Pattern Name
CAPEC-1	Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLs
CAPEC-127	Directory Indexing
CAPEC-81	Web Server Logs Tampering

References

[REF-62] Mark Dowd, John McDonald and Justin Schuh. "The Art of Software Security Assessment". Chapter 3, "Insecure Defaults", Page 69. 1st Edition. Addison Wesley. 2006.

[REF-1479] Gregory Larsen, E. Kenneth Hong Fong, David A. Wheeler and Rama S. Moorthy. "State-of-the-Art Resources (SOAR) for Software Vulnerability Detection, Test, and Evaluation". 2014-07.
<https://www.ida.org/-/media/feature/publications/s/st/stateoftheart-resources-soar-for-software-vulnerability-detection-test-and-evaluation/p-5061.ashx>. (URL validated: 2025年09月05日)

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2006年07月19日 (CWE Draft 3, 2006年07月19日)	PLOVER
2006年07月19日 (CWE Draft 3, 2006年07月19日)
Contributions
Contribution Date	Contributor	Organization
2023年04月25日	"Mapping CWE to 62443" Sub-Working Group	CWE-CAPEC ICS/OT SIG
2023年04月25日	Suggested mappings to ISA/IEC 62443.
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
2025年09月09日 (CWE 4.18, 2025年09月09日)	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2025年09月09日 (CWE 4.18, 2025年09月09日)	updated Detection_Factors, References
2023年06月29日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年06月29日	updated Mapping_Notes, Relationships
2023年04月27日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年04月27日	updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2023年01月31日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年01月31日	updated Applicable_Platforms
2022年06月28日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2022年06月28日	updated Relationships
2022年04月28日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2022年04月28日	updated Relationships
2021年10月28日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2021年10月28日	updated Relationships
2021年07月20日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2021年07月20日	updated Relationships
2020年12月10日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年12月10日	updated Potential_Mitigations
2020年08月20日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年08月20日	updated Description, Modes_of_Introduction, Potential_Mitigations
2020年02月24日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年02月24日	updated Applicable_Platforms, Description, Detection_Factors, Relationships
2019年06月20日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2019年06月20日	updated Relationships, Type
2019年01月03日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2019年01月03日	updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2017年11月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2017年11月08日	updated Applicable_Platforms, Causal_Nature, Modes_of_Introduction, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2017年05月03日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2017年05月03日	updated Related_Attack_Patterns
2014年07月30日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014年07月30日	updated Detection_Factors, Relationships
2012年10月30日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2012年10月30日	updated Potential_Mitigations
2012年05月11日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2012年05月11日	updated References, Related_Attack_Patterns, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2011年09月13日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2011年09月13日	updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2011年06月01日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2011年06月01日	updated Common_Consequences, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2009年05月27日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2009年05月27日	updated Description, Name
2008年11月24日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年11月24日	updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2008年09月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年09月08日	updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings, Weakness_Ordinalities
2008年07月01日	Eric Dalci	Cigital
2008年07月01日	updated Time_of_Introduction
Previous Entry Names
Change Date	Previous Entry Name
2009年05月27日	Insecure Default Permissions

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Page Last Updated: September 09, 2025

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