CWE - CWE-487: Reliance on Package-level Scope (4.18)

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CWE Glossary Definition

CWE-487: Reliance on Package-level Scope

Weakness ID: 487

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

Java packages are not inherently closed; therefore, relying on them for code security is not a good practice.

Extended Description

The purpose of package scope is to prevent accidental access by other parts of a program. This is an ease-of-software-development feature but not a security feature.

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	Scope: Confidentiality Any data in a Java package can be accessed outside of the Java framework if the package is distributed.
Modify Application Data	Scope: Integrity The data in a Java class can be modified by anyone outside of the Java framework if the packages is distributed.

Potential Mitigations

Phase(s)	Mitigation
Architecture and Design; Implementation	Data should be private static and final whenever possible. This will assure that your code is protected by instantiating early, preventing access and tampering.

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	Pillar Pillar - a weakness that is the most abstract type of weakness and represents a theme for all class/base/variant weaknesses related to it. A Pillar is different from a Category as a Pillar is still technically a type of weakness that describes a mistake, while a Category represents a common characteristic used to group related things.	664	Improper Control of a Resource Through its Lifetime

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.	1006	Bad Coding Practices

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
Implementation

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

Java (Undetermined Prevalence)

Likelihood Of Exploit

Medium

Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

The following example demonstrates the weakness.

(bad code)

Example Language: Java

package math;
public class Lebesgue implements Integration{

public final Static String youAreHidingThisFunction(functionToIntegrate){

return ...;

}

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.	850	The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011) Chapter 7 - Methods (MET)
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	966	SFP Secondary Cluster: Other Exposures
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1416	Comprehensive Categorization: Resource Lifecycle Management

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	Mapped Node Name
CLASP	Relying on package-level scope
The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011)	MET04-J	Do not increase the accessibility of overridden or hidden methods

References

[REF-18] Secure Software, Inc.. "The CLASP Application Security Process". 2005.
<https://cwe.mitre.org/documents/sources/TheCLASPApplicationSecurityProcess.pdf>. (URL validated: 2024年11月17日)

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2006年07月19日 (CWE Draft 3, 2006年07月19日)	CLASP
2006年07月19日 (CWE Draft 3, 2006年07月19日)
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
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 Relationships
2020年02月24日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年02月24日	updated References, Type
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 Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships
2014年07月30日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014年07月30日	updated Relationships
2014年06月23日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014年06月23日	updated Description, Other_Notes, Potential_Mitigations
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 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
2008年09月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年09月08日	updated Common_Consequences, Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings
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
2008年04月11日	Relying on Package-level Scope

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Page Last Updated: September 09, 2025

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