CWE-782: Exposed IOCTL with Insufficient Access Control

Description

The product implements an IOCTL with functionality that should be restricted, but it does not properly enforce access control for the IOCTL.

Extended Description

When an IOCTL contains privileged functionality and is exposed unnecessarily, attackers may be able to access this functionality by invoking the IOCTL. Even if the functionality is benign, if the programmer has assumed that the IOCTL would only be accessed by a trusted process, there may be little or no validation of the incoming data, exposing weaknesses that would never be reachable if the attacker cannot call the IOCTL directly. The implementations of IOCTLs will differ between operating system types and versions, so the methods of attack and prevention may vary widely.

ThreatScore

Threat Mapped score: 1.8

Industry: Finiancial

Threat priority: P4 - Informational (Low)

Observed Examples (CVEs)

CVE: CVE-2009-2208

Operating system does not enforce permissions on an IOCTL that can be used to modify network settings.
CVE: CVE-2008-3831

Device driver does not restrict ioctl calls to its direct rendering manager.
CVE: CVE-2008-3525

ioctl does not check for a required capability before processing certain requests.
CVE: CVE-2008-0322

Chain: insecure device permissions allows access to an IOCTL, allowing arbitrary memory to be overwritten.
CVE: CVE-2007-4277

Chain: anti-virus product uses weak permissions for a device, leading to resultant buffer overflow in an exposed IOCTL.
CVE: CVE-2007-1400

Chain: sandbox allows opening of a TTY device, enabling shell commands through an exposed ioctl.
CVE: CVE-2006-4926

Anti-virus product uses insecure security descriptor for a device driver, allowing access to a privileged IOCTL.
CVE: CVE-1999-0728

Unauthorized user can disable keyboard or mouse by directly invoking a privileged IOCTL.

Related Attack Patterns (CAPEC)

N/A

Attack TTPs

N/A

Modes of Introduction

Phase	Note
Architecture and Design	N/A
Implementation	REALIZATION: This weakness is caused during implementation of an architectural security tactic.

Common Consequences

Impact: Varies by Context — Notes: Attackers can invoke any functionality that the IOCTL offers. Depending on the functionality, the consequences may include code execution, denial-of-service, and theft of data.

Potential Mitigations

Architecture and Design: In Windows environments, use proper access control for the associated device or device namespace. See References. (N/A)

Applicable Platforms

C (N/A, Often)
C++ (N/A, Often)

Demonstrative Examples

N/A

Notes

Relationship: This can be primary to many other weaknesses when the programmer assumes that the IOCTL can only be accessed by trusted parties. For example, a program or driver might not validate incoming addresses in METHOD_NEITHER IOCTLs in Windows environments (CWE-781), which could allow buffer overflow and similar attacks to take place, even when the attacker never should have been able to access the IOCTL at all.
Applicable Platform: Because IOCTL functionality is typically performing low-level actions and closely interacts with the operating system, this weakness may only appear in code that is written in low-level languages.

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