CWE - CWE-619: Dangling Database Cursor ('Cursor Injection') (4.18)

Home > CWE List > CWE-619: Dangling Database Cursor ('Cursor Injection') (4.18)

CWE Glossary Definition

CWE-619: Dangling Database Cursor ('Cursor Injection')

Weakness ID: 619

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.

View customized information:

For users who are interested in more notional aspects of a weakness. Example: educators, technical writers, and project/program managers. For users who are concerned with the practical application and details about the nature of a weakness and how to prevent it from happening. Example: tool developers, security researchers, pen-testers, incident response analysts. For users who are mapping an issue to CWE/CAPEC IDs, i.e., finding the most appropriate CWE for a specific issue (e.g., a CVE record). Example: tool developers, security researchers. For users who wish to see all available information for the CWE/CAPEC entry. For users who want to customize what details are displayed.

Edit Custom Filter

Description

If a database cursor is not closed properly, then it could become accessible to other users while retaining the same privileges that were originally assigned, leaving the cursor "dangling."

Extended Description

For example, an improper dangling cursor could arise from unhandled exceptions. The impact of the issue depends on the cursor's role, but SQL injection attacks are commonly possible.

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
Implementation	Close cursors immediately after access to them is complete. Ensure that you close cursors if exceptions occur.

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.	402	Transmission of Private Resources into a New Sphere ('Resource Leak')
CanFollow	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.	404	Improper Resource Shutdown or Release

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.	399	Resource Management Errors

Background Details

A cursor is a feature in Oracle PL/SQL and other languages that provides a handle for executing and accessing the results of SQL queries.

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	This issue is currently reported for unhandled exceptions, but it is theoretically possible any time the programmer does not close the cursor at the proper time.

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

SQL (Undetermined Prevalence)

Technologies

Database Server (Undetermined Prevalence)

Weakness Ordinalities

Ordinality	Description
Primary	(where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses) This could be primary when the programmer never attempts to close the cursor when finished with it.
Resultant	(where the weakness is typically related to the presence of some other weaknesses)

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.	990	SFP Secondary Cluster: Tainted Input to Command
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1403	Comprehensive Categorization: Exposed Resource

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
Software Fault Patterns	SFP24	Tainted input to command

References

[REF-505] David Litchfield. "The Oracle Hacker's Handbook".

[REF-506] David Litchfield. "Cursor Injection".
<http://www.davidlitchfield.com/cursor-injection.pdf>. (URL validated: 2023年04月07日)

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2007年05月07日 (CWE Draft 6, 2007年05月07日)	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2007年05月07日 (CWE Draft 6, 2007年05月07日)
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
2025年04月03日 (CWE 4.17, 2025年04月03日)	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2025年04月03日 (CWE 4.17, 2025年04月03日)	updated Applicable_Platforms
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 References, Relationships
2020年02月24日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年02月24日	updated Relationships
2017年11月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2017年11月08日	updated Relationships
2014年07月30日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014年07月30日	updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
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 Modes_of_Introduction, Other_Notes, Weakness_Ordinalities
2009年05月27日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2009年05月27日	updated Name
2008年10月14日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年10月14日	updated Background_Details, Description, Relationships
2008年09月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年09月08日	updated Relationships, Other_Notes
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	Dangling Database Cursor (Cursor Injection)
2009年05月27日	Dangling Database Cursor (aka 'Cursor Injection')

More information is available — Please edit the custom filter or select a different filter.

Page Last Updated: September 09, 2025

MITRE

Use of the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE™) and the associated references from this website are subject to the Terms of Use. CWE is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and managed by the Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute (HSSEDI) which is operated by The MITRE Corporation (MITRE). Copyright © 2006–2025, The MITRE Corporation. CWE, CWSS, CWRAF, and the CWE logo are trademarks of The MITRE Corporation.

HSSEDI