CWE - CWE-698: Execution After Redirect (EAR) (4.16)

Weakness ID: 698

Vulnerability Mapping: ALLOWED This CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities
Abstraction: 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.

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Description

The web application sends a redirect to another location, but instead of exiting, it executes additional code.

Alternate Terms

Redirect Without Exit

Common Consequences

This 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 Confidentiality Integrity Availability	Technical Impact: Alter Execution Logic; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands This weakness could affect the control flow of the application and allow execution of untrusted code.

Relationships

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	Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.	670	Always-Incorrect Control Flow Implementation
ChildOf	Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.	705	Incorrect Control Flow Scoping

Relevant to the view "Software Development" (CWE-699)

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	438	Behavioral Problems

Modes Of Introduction

The different Modes of Introduction provide information about how and when this weakness may be introduced. The Phase identifies a point in the life cycle at which introduction may occur, while the Note provides a typical scenario related to introduction during the given phase.

Phase	Note
Implementation

Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

This code queries a server and displays its status when a request comes from an authorized IP address.

(bad code)

Example Language: PHP

$requestingIP = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
if(!in_array($requestingIP,$ipAllowList)){

echo "You are not authorized to view this page";
http_redirect($errorPageURL);

}
$status = getServerStatus();
echo $status;
...

This code redirects unauthorized users, but continues to execute code after calling http_redirect(). This means even unauthorized users may be able to access the contents of the page or perform a DoS attack on the server being queried. Also, note that this code is vulnerable to an IP address spoofing attack (CWE-212).

Observed Examples

Reference	Description
CVE-2013-1402	Execution-after-redirect allows access to application configuration details.
CVE-2009-1936	chain: library file sends a redirect if it is directly requested but continues to execute, allowing remote file inclusion and path traversal.
CVE-2007-2713	Remote attackers can obtain access to administrator functionality through EAR.
CVE-2007-4932	Remote attackers can obtain access to administrator functionality through EAR.
CVE-2007-5578	Bypass of authentication step through EAR.
CVE-2007-2713	Chain: Execution after redirect triggers eval injection.
CVE-2007-6652	chain: execution after redirect allows non-administrator to perform static code injection.

Weakness Ordinalities

Ordinality	Description
Primary	(where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)

Detection Methods

Black Box

This issue might not be detected if testing is performed using a web browser, because the browser might obey the redirect and move the user to a different page before the application has produced outputs that indicate something is amiss.

Memberships

This 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	View - a subset of CWE entries that provides a way of examining CWE content. The two main view structures are Slices (flat lists) and Graphs (containing relationships between entries).	884	CWE Cross-section
MemberOf	Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	977	SFP Secondary Cluster: Design
MemberOf	Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	1410	Comprehensive Categorization: Insufficient Control Flow Management

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Usage: ALLOWED

(this CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)

Reason: Acceptable-Use

Rationale:

This CWE entry is at the Base level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.

Comments:

Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

References

[REF-565] Adam Doupé, Bryce Boe, Christopher Kruegel and Giovanni Vigna. "Fear the EAR: Discovering and Mitigating Execution After Redirect Vulnerabilities". <http://cs.ucsb.edu/~bboe/public/pubs/fear-the-ear-ccs2011.pdf>.

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2008-09-09 (CWE 1.0, 2008-09-09)	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008-09-09 (CWE 1.0, 2008-09-09)
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
2011-06-01	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2011-06-01	updated Common_Consequences
2012-05-11	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2012-05-11	updated Common_Consequences, Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships
2012-10-30	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2012-10-30	updated Demonstrative_Examples
2013-02-21	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2013-02-21	updated Alternate_Terms, Name, Observed_Examples, References
2014-07-30	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2014-07-30	updated Relationships
2020-02-24	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020-02-24	updated Relationships
2020-06-25	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020-06-25	updated Demonstrative_Examples
2022-10-13	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2022-10-13	updated References
2023-04-27	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023-04-27	updated Relationships
2023-06-29	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023-06-29	updated Mapping_Notes
2023-10-26	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023-10-26	updated Demonstrative_Examples
Previous Entry Names
Change Date	Previous Entry Name
2013-02-21	Redirect Without Exit


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Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-698: Execution After Redirect (EAR)

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