CWE - CWE-489: Active Debug Code (4.18)

Home > CWE List > CWE-489: Active Debug Code (4.18)

CWE Glossary Definition

CWE-489: Active Debug Code

Weakness ID: 489

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 is released with debugging code still enabled or active. Diagram for CWE-489

Alternate Terms

Leftover debug code

This term originates from Seven Pernicious Kingdoms

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
Bypass Protection Mechanism; Read Application Data; Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Varies by Context	Scope: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Access Control, Other Active debug code can create unintended entry points or expose sensitive information. The severity of the exposed debug code will depend on the particular instance. At the least, it will give an attacker sensitive information about the settings and mechanics of web applications on the server. At worst, as is often the case, the debug code will allow an attacker complete control over the web application and server, as well as confidential information that either of these access.

Impact

Details

Bypass Protection Mechanism; Read Application Data; Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Varies by Context

Scope: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Access Control, Other

Active debug code can create unintended entry points or expose sensitive information. The severity of the exposed debug code will depend on the particular instance. At the least, it will give an attacker sensitive information about the settings and mechanics of web applications on the server. At worst, as is often the case, the debug code will allow an attacker complete control over the web application and server, as well as confidential information that either of these access.

Potential Mitigations

Phase(s)	Mitigation
Build and Compilation; Distribution	Remove debug code before deploying the application.

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.	710	Improper Adherence to Coding Standards
ParentOf	Variant Variant - a weakness that is linked to a certain type of product, typically involving a specific language or technology. More specific than a Base weakness. Variant level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 3 to 5 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	11	ASP.NET Misconfiguration: Creating Debug Binary
CanPrecede	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.	215	Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Debugging Code

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	In web-based applications, debug code is used to test and modify web application properties, configuration information, and functions. If a debug application is left on a production server, this oversight during the "software process" allows attackers access to debug functionality.
Implementation	A common development practice is to add "back door" code specifically designed for debugging or testing purposes that is not intended to be shipped or deployed with the product. These back door entry points create security risks because they are not considered during design or testing and fall outside of the expected operating conditions of the product.
Build and Compilation
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)

Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

Debug code can be used to bypass authentication. For example, suppose an application has a login script that receives a username and a password. Assume also that a third, optional, parameter, called "debug", is interpreted by the script as requesting a switch to debug mode, and that when this parameter is given the username and password are not checked. In such a case, it is very simple to bypass the authentication process if the special behavior of the application regarding the debug parameter is known. In a case where the form is:

(bad code)

Example Language: HTML

</FORM>

Then a conforming link will look like:

(informative)

http://TARGET/authenticate_login.cgi?username=...&password=...

An attacker can change this to:

(attack code)

http://TARGET/authenticate_login.cgi?username=&password=&debug=1

Which will grant the attacker access to the site, bypassing the authentication process.

Weakness Ordinalities

Ordinality	Description
Indirect	(where the weakness is a quality issue that might indirectly make it easier to introduce security-relevant weaknesses or make them more difficult to detect)
Primary	(where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)

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.	485	7PK - Encapsulation
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	731	OWASP Top Ten 2004 Category A10 - Insecure Configuration Management
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1002	SFP Secondary Cluster: Unexpected Entry Points
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1371	ICS Supply Chain: Poorly Documented or Undocumented Features
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1412	Comprehensive Categorization: Poor Coding Practices

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.

Notes

Other

In J2EE a main method may be a good indicator that debug code has been left in the application, although there may not be any direct security impact.

Taxonomy Mappings

Mapped Taxonomy Name	Node ID	Fit	Mapped Node Name
7 Pernicious Kingdoms	Leftover Debug Code
OWASP Top Ten 2004	A10	CWE More Specific	Insecure Configuration Management
Software Fault Patterns	SFP28	Unexpected access points

Related Attack Patterns

CAPEC-ID	Attack Pattern Name
CAPEC-121	Exploit Non-Production Interfaces
CAPEC-661	Root/Jailbreak Detection Evasion via Debugging

References

[REF-6] Katrina Tsipenyuk, Brian Chess and Gary McGraw. "Seven Pernicious Kingdoms: A Taxonomy of Software Security Errors". NIST Workshop on Software Security Assurance Tools Techniques and Metrics. NIST. 2005年11月07日.
<https://samate.nist.gov/SSATTM_Content/papers/Seven%20Pernicious%20Kingdoms%20-%20Taxonomy%20of%20Sw%20Security%20Errors%20-%20Tsipenyuk%20-%20Chess%20-%20McGraw.pdf>.

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2006年07月19日 (CWE Draft 3, 2006年07月19日)	7 Pernicious Kingdoms
2006年07月19日 (CWE Draft 3, 2006年07月19日)
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 Common_Consequences, Description, Diagram, Modes_of_Introduction
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
2023年01月31日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年01月31日	updated Applicable_Platforms, Description, Relationships
2021年07月20日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2021年07月20日	updated Alternate_Terms
2021年03月15日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2021年03月15日	updated Related_Attack_Patterns
2020年02月24日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年02月24日	updated Description, Name, References, Relationships
2019年06月20日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2019年06月20日	updated Related_Attack_Patterns
2019年01月03日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2019年01月03日	updated Weakness_Ordinalities
2017年11月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2017年11月08日	updated Applicable_Platforms, Relationships, White_Box_Definitions
2014年07月30日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014年07月30日	updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2014年06月23日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014年06月23日	updated Description, Modes_of_Introduction, Other_Notes, Time_of_Introduction
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
2011年06月27日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2011年06月27日	updated Common_Consequences
2011年06月01日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2011年06月01日	updated Common_Consequences
2009年10月29日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2009年10月29日	updated Common_Consequences
2009年07月27日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2009年07月27日	updated Demonstrative_Examples
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08月01日	KDM Analytics
2008年08月01日	added/updated white box definitions
2008年07月01日	Eric Dalci	Cigital
2008年07月01日	updated Potential_Mitigations, Time_of_Introduction
Previous Entry Names
Change Date	Previous Entry Name
2020年02月24日	Leftover Debug Code

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Page Last Updated: September 09, 2025

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