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Common Weakness Enumeration

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Home > CWE List > CWE-1069: Empty Exception Block (4.16)  
ID

CWE-1069: Empty Exception Block

Weakness ID: 1069
Vulnerability Mapping: PROHIBITED This CWE ID must not 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.
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+ Description
An invokable code block contains an exception handling block that does not contain any code, i.e. is empty.
+ Extended Description

When an exception handling block (such as a Catch and Finally block) is used, but that block is empty, this can prevent the product from running reliably. If the relevant code is reachable by an attacker, then this reliability problem might introduce a vulnerability.

+ 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.
Scope Impact Likelihood
Other

Technical Impact: Reduce Reliability

+ Potential Mitigations

Phase: Implementation

For every exception block add code that handles the specific exception in the way intended by the application.
+ 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" (CWE-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. 1071 Empty Code Block
+ 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)

+ Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

In the following Java example, the code catches an ArithmeticException.

(bad code)
Example Language: Java 
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int a = 1;
int b = 0;
int c = 0;

try {
c = a / b;

} catch(ArithmeticException ae) {
}

}

}

Since the exception block is empty, no action is taken.

In the code below the exception has been logged and the bad execution has been handled in the desired way allowing the program to continue in an expected way.

(good code)
Example Language: Java 
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int a = 1;
int b = 0;
int c = 0;

try {
c = a / b;

} catch(ArithmeticException ae) {
log.error("Divided by zero detected, setting to -1.");
c = -1;

}

}

}

+ Weakness Ordinalities
Ordinality Description
Indirect
(where the weakness is a quality issue that might indirectly make it easier to introduce security-relevant weaknesses or make them more difficult to detect)
+ 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. 1129 CISQ Quality Measures (2016) - Reliability
MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1412 Comprehensive Categorization: Poor Coding Practices
+ Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Usage: PROHIBITED

(this CWE ID must not be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)

Reason: Other

Rationale:

This entry is primarily a quality issue with no direct security implications.

Comments:

Look for weaknesses that are focused specifically on insecure behaviors that have more direct security implications.
+ Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy Name Node ID Fit Mapped Node Name
OMG ASCRM ASCRM-RLB-1
+ References
[REF-961] Object Management Group (OMG). "Automated Source Code Reliability Measure (ASCRM)". ASCRM-RLB-1. 2016-01. <http://www.omg.org/spec/ASCRM/1.0/>.
+ Content History
+ Submissions
Submission Date Submitter Organization
2018-07-02
(CWE 3.2, 2019-01-03)
CWE Content Team MITRE
Entry derived from Common Quality Enumeration (CQE) Draft 0.9.
+ Contributions
Contribution Date Contributor Organization
2022-08-15 Drew Buttner MITRE
Suggested new demonstrative examples, mitigations, and applicable platforms.
+ Modifications
Modification Date Modifier Organization
2020-02-24 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships, Type
2022-10-13 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Applicable_Platforms, Demonstrative_Examples, Potential_Mitigations
2023-01-31 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Description
2023-04-27 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships, Type
2023-06-29 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Mapping_Notes
2024-02-29
(CWE 4.14, 2024-02-29)
CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Demonstrative_Examples, Mapping_Notes
Page Last Updated: November 19, 2024