Detailed attack pattern
Draft
CAPEC-201: Serialized Data External Linking
An adversary creates a serialized data file (e.g. XML, YAML, etc...) that contains an external data reference. Because serialized data parsers may not validate documents with external references, there may be no checks on the nature of the reference in the external data. This can allow an adversary to open arbitrary files or connections, which may further lead to the adversary gaining access to information on the system that they would normally be unable to obtain.
High
Typical severity
Per MITRE
High
Likelihood of attack
Per MITRE
1
Related weaknesses
CWEs this targets
Detailed
Abstraction
MITRE classification
Overview
CAPEC-201 (Serialized Data External Linking) is a detailed-level attack pattern catalogued by MITRE in the Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC). It describes a recurring method attackers use to exploit software weaknesses.