CWE - CWE-72: Improper Handling of Apple HFS+ Alternate Data Stream Path (4.18)

Home > CWE List > CWE-72: Improper Handling of Apple HFS+ Alternate Data Stream Path (4.18)

CWE Glossary Definition

CWE-72: Improper Handling of Apple HFS+ Alternate Data Stream Path

Weakness ID: 72

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.

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

The product does not properly handle special paths that may identify the data or resource fork of a file on the HFS+ file system.

Extended Description

If the product chooses actions to take based on the file name, then if an attacker provides the data or resource fork, the product may take unexpected actions. Further, if the product intends to restrict access to a file, then an attacker might still be able to bypass intended access restrictions by requesting the data or resource fork for that file.

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 Files or Directories; Modify Files or Directories	Scope: Confidentiality, Integrity

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.	66	Improper Handling of File Names that Identify Virtual Resources

Background Details

The Apple HFS+ file system permits files to have multiple data input streams, accessible through special paths. The Mac OS X operating system provides a way to access the different data input streams through special paths and as an extended attribute:

- Resource fork: file/..namedfork/rsrc, file/rsrc (deprecated), xattr:com.apple.ResourceFork

- Data fork: file/..namedfork/data (only versions prior to Mac OS X v10.5)

Additionally, on filesystems that lack native support for multiple streams, the resource fork and file metadata may be stored in a file with "._" prepended to the name.

Forks can also be accessed through non-portable APIs.

Forks inherit the file system access controls of the file they belong to.

Programs need to control access to these paths, if the processing of a file system object is dependent on the structure of its path.

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

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

Operating Systems

Class: macOS (Undetermined Prevalence)

Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

A web server that interprets FILE.cgi as processing instructions could disclose the source code for FILE.cgi by requesting FILE.cgi/..namedfork/data. This might occur because the web server invokes the default handler which may return the contents of the file.

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-2004-1084	Server allows remote attackers to read files and resource fork content via HTTP requests to certain special file names related to multiple data streams in HFS+.

Functional Areas

File Processing

Affected Resources

File or Directory

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.	981	SFP Secondary Cluster: Path Traversal
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1404	Comprehensive Categorization: File Handling

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.

Notes

Theoretical

This and similar problems exist because the same resource can have multiple identifiers that dictate which behavior can be performed on the resource.

Research Gap

Under-studied

References

[REF-578] NetSec. "NetSec Security Advisory: Multiple Vulnerabilities Resulting From Use Of Apple OSX HFS+". BugTraq. 2005年02月16日.
<https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2005/Feb/309>. (URL validated: 2023年04月07日)

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)
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 Affected_Resources, Functional_Areas
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, Time_of_Introduction
2023年01月31日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年01月31日	updated Description
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 Applicable_Platforms, References, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
2014年07月30日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014年07月30日	updated Relationships
2012年05月11日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2012年05月11日	updated Observed_Examples, 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 Other_Notes, Theoretical_Notes
2009年05月27日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2009年05月27日	updated Name
2008年11月24日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年11月24日	updated Applicable_Platforms, Background_Details, Demonstrative_Examples, Description, Name, References
2008年11月05日	David Remahl	Apple
2008年11月05日	clarified description, provided background details, and added demonstrative example
2008年09月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年09月08日	updated 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11月24日	Apple HFS+ Alternate Data Stream
2009年05月27日	Failure to Handle Apple HFS+ Alternate Data Stream Path

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