CWE-1229: Creation of Emergent Resource
The product manages resources or behaves in a way that indirectly creates a new, distinct resource that can be used by attackers in violation of the intended policy.
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Overview
A product is only expected to behave in a way that was specifically intended by the developer. Resource allocation and management is expected to be performed explicitly by the associated code. However, in systems with complex behavior, the product might indirectly produce new kinds of resources that were never intended in the original design. For example, a covert channel is a resource that was never explicitly intended by the developer, but it is useful to attackers. "Parasitic computing," while not necessarily malicious in nature, effectively tricks a product into performing unintended computations on behalf of another party.
Common consequences
What can happen when CWE-1229 is exploited.
Varies by Context
Affects: Other
How it happens
When it is introduced
Typically introduced during these phases of the software lifecycle.
Code examples
Illustrative examples from MITRE showing how the weakness appears in code.
In this example, the attacker observes how long an authentication takes when the user types in the correct password.
Vulnerable example