CWE-546: Suspicious Comment
The code contains comments that suggest the presence of bugs, incomplete functionality, or weaknesses.
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Overview
Many suspicious comments, such as BUG, HACK, FIXME, LATER, LATER2, TODO, in the code indicate missing security functionality and checking. Others indicate code problems that programmers should fix, such as hard-coded variables, error handling, not using stored procedures, and performance issues.
Common consequences
What can happen when CWE-546 is exploited.
Quality Degradation
Affects: Other
Suspicious comments could be an indication that there are problems in the source code that may need to be fixed and is an indication of poor quality. This could lead to further bugs and the introduction of weaknesses.
How it happens
When it is introduced
Typically introduced during these phases of the software lifecycle.
How to prevent it
Practical mitigations for CWE-546, grouped by where in the lifecycle they apply.
Remove comments that suggest the presence of bugs, incomplete functionality, or weaknesses, before deploying the application.
How to detect it
Automated Static Analysis
Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)
Code examples
Illustrative examples from MITRE showing how the weakness appears in code.
The following excerpt demonstrates the use of a suspicious comment in an incomplete code block that may have security repercussions.
Vulnerable example
if (user == null) {Frequently asked questions
Common questions about CWE-546.
- What is CWE-546?
- The code contains comments that suggest the presence of bugs, incomplete functionality, or weaknesses.
- How do you prevent CWE-546?
- Remove comments that suggest the presence of bugs, incomplete functionality, or weaknesses, before deploying the application.
- How is CWE-546 detected?
- Automated Static Analysis: Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)
- What are the consequences of CWE-546?
- Exploiting CWE-546 can lead to: Quality Degradation.
References
- MITRE CWE definition (CWE-546) (opens in a new tab)
- CWE-546 vulnerabilities on NVD (opens in a new tab)
- Learn: What is a CWE?
Weakness data is sourced from the MITRE CWE catalog (v4.20). CVE associations are aggregated and kept current by RadicalNotion.AI.
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