CWE - CWE-688: Function Call With Incorrect Variable or Reference as Argument (4.18)

Home > CWE List > CWE-688: Function Call With Incorrect Variable or Reference as Argument (4.18)

CWE Glossary Definition

CWE-688: Function Call With Incorrect Variable or Reference as Argument

Weakness ID: 688

Vulnerability Mapping: ALLOWED This CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities
Abstraction: 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.

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Description

The product calls a function, procedure, or routine, but the caller specifies the wrong variable or reference as one of the arguments, which may lead to undefined behavior and resultant weaknesses.

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
Quality Degradation	Scope: Other

Potential Mitigations

Phase(s)	Mitigation
Testing	Because this function call often produces incorrect behavior it will usually be detected during testing or normal operation of the product. During testing exercise all possible control paths will typically expose this weakness except in rare cases when the incorrect function call accidentally produces the correct results or if the provided argument type is very similar to the expected argument type.

Phase(s)

Mitigation

Testing

Because this function call often produces incorrect behavior it will usually be detected during testing or normal operation of the product. During testing exercise all possible control paths will typically expose this weakness except in rare cases when the incorrect function call accidentally produces the correct results or if the provided argument type is very similar to the expected argument type.

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	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.	628	Function Call with Incorrectly Specified Arguments

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 problem typically occurs when the programmer makes a typo, or copy and paste errors.

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

C (Undetermined Prevalence)

Perl (Undetermined Prevalence)

Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

In the following Java snippet, the accessGranted() method is accidentally called with the static ADMIN_ROLES array rather than the user roles.

(bad code)

Example Language: Java

private static final String[] ADMIN_ROLES = ...;
public boolean void accessGranted(String resource, String user) {

String[] userRoles = getUserRoles(user);
return accessGranted(resource, ADMIN_ROLES);

}

private boolean void accessGranted(String resource, String[] userRoles) {

// grant or deny access based on user roles
...

}

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-2005-2548	Kernel code specifies the wrong variable in first argument, leading to resultant NULL pointer dereference.

Weakness Ordinalities

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

Detection Methods

Method	Details
Other	While this weakness might be caught by the compiler in some languages, it can occur more frequently in cases in which the called function accepts variable numbers of arguments, such as format strings in C. It also can occur in loosely typed languages or environments. This might require an understanding of intended program behavior or design to determine whether the value is incorrect.

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.	998	SFP Secondary Cluster: Glitch in Computation
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 Variant 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.

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2008年04月11日 (CWE Draft 9, 2008年04月11日)	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年04月11日 (CWE Draft 9, 2008年04月11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
2023年01月31日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年01月31日	updated Description, Potential_Mitigations
2020年02月24日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年02月24日	updated Relationships
2014年07月30日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014年07月30日	updated 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 Demonstrative_Examples, 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
2010年02月16日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2010年02月16日	updated Detection_Factors
2009年10月29日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2009年10月29日	updated Modes_of_Introduction, Other_Notes, Potential_Mitigations
2009年05月27日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2009年05月27日	updated Description
2008年09月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年09月08日	updated Applicable_Platforms, Detection_Factors, Relationships, Other_Notes, Weakness_Ordinalities
2008年07月01日	Eric Dalci	Cigital
2008年07月01日	updated Potential_Mitigations
2008年07月01日	Sean Eidemiller	Cigital
2008年07月01日	added/updated demonstrative examples

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Page Last Updated: September 09, 2025

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