CWE - CWE-347: Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature (4.18)

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CWE Glossary Definition

CWE-347: Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature

Weakness ID: 347

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

The product does not verify, or incorrectly verifies, the cryptographic signature for data. Diagram for CWE-347

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
Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Modify Application Data; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands	Scope: Access Control, Integrity, Confidentiality An attacker could gain access to sensitive data and possibly execute unauthorized code.

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.	345	Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity

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.	310	Cryptographic Issues
MemberOf	Category Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1214	Data Integrity 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.	345	Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity

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.	1013	Encrypt Data

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	REALIZATION: This weakness is caused during implementation of an architectural security tactic.

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)

Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

In the following code, a JarFile object is created from a downloaded file.

(bad code)

Example Language: Java

File f = new File(downloadedFilePath);
JarFile jf = new JarFile(f);

The JAR file that was potentially downloaded from an untrusted source is created without verifying the signature (if present). An alternate constructor that accepts a boolean verify parameter should be used instead.

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-2002-1796	Does not properly verify signatures for "trusted" entities.
CVE-2005-2181	Insufficient verification allows spoofing.
CVE-2005-2182	Insufficient verification allows spoofing.
CVE-2002-1706	Accepts a configuration file without a Message Integrity Check (MIC) signature.

Detection Methods

Method	Details
Automated Static Analysis	Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.) Effectiveness: High

Method

Details

Automated Static Analysis

Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, 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.	859	The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011) Chapter 16 - Platform Security (SEC)
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).	884	CWE Cross-section
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	959	SFP Secondary Cluster: Weak Cryptography
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1346	OWASP Top Ten 2021 Category A02:2021 - Cryptographic Failures
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1402	Comprehensive Categorization: Encryption

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	Improperly Verified Signature
The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011)	SEC06-J	Do not rely on the default automatic signature verification provided by URLClassLoader and java.util.jar
ISA/IEC 62443	Part 3-3	Req SR 1.9
ISA/IEC 62443	Part 4-1	Req SM-6
ISA/IEC 62443	Part 4-2	Req EDR 3.12
ISA/IEC 62443	Part 4-2	Req NDR 3.12
ISA/IEC 62443	Part 4-2	Req HDR 3.12

Related Attack Patterns

CAPEC-ID	Attack Pattern Name
CAPEC-463	Padding Oracle Crypto Attack
CAPEC-475	Signature Spoofing by Improper Validation

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.
2024年09月10日 (CWE 4.16, 2024年11月19日)	Abhi Balakrishnan
2024年09月10日 (CWE 4.16, 2024年11月19日)	Provided diagram to improve CWE usability
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
2024年11月19日 (CWE 4.16, 2024年11月19日)	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2024年11月19日 (CWE 4.16, 2024年11月19日)	updated Diagram
2023年06月29日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年06月29日	updated Mapping_Notes
2023年04月27日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年04月27日	updated Detection_Factors, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2023年01月31日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年01月31日	updated Description
2021年10月28日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2021年10月28日	updated Relationships
2020年08月20日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年08月20日	updated Related_Attack_Patterns
2020年02月24日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年02月24日	updated Relationships
2019年01月03日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2019年01月03日	updated Taxonomy_Mappings
2017年11月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2017年11月08日	updated Applicable_Platforms, Modes_of_Introduction, Relationships
2017年01月19日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2017年01月19日	updated Relationships
2015年12月07日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2015年12月07日	updated Relationships
2014年07月30日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014年07月30日	updated Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships
2012年05月11日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2012年05月11日	updated Common_Consequences, Related_Attack_Patterns, 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09月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年09月08日	updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2008年07月01日	Eric Dalci	Cigital
2008年07月01日	updated Time_of_Introduction
2008年07月01日	Sean Eidemiller	Cigital
2008年07月01日	added/updated demonstrative examples
Previous Entry Names
Change Date	Previous Entry Name
2009年05月27日	Improperly Verified Signature

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Page Last Updated: September 09, 2025

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