Failure to provide confidentiality for stored data

Overview

Non-final public fields should be avoided, if possible, as the code is easily tamperable.

Consequences

• Integrity: The object could potentially be tampered with.

• Confidentiality: The object could potentially allow the object to be read.

Exposure period

• Implementation: This flaw is a simple logic issue, introduced entirely at implementation time.

Platform

• Languages: Java, C++

• Operating platforms: Any

Required resources

Any

Severity

Medium

Likelihood of exploit

High

Avoidance and mitigation

• Implementation: Make any non-final field private.

Discussion

If a field is non-final and public, it can be changed once their value is set by any function which has access to the class which contains the field.

Examples

In C++:

public int password r = 45;

In Java:

public String r = new String("My Password");

Now this field is readable from any function and can be changed by any function.