Logic/Time Bomb

The product contains code that is designed to disrupt the legitimate operation of the product (or its environment) when a certain time passes, or when a certain logical condition is met.


Description

When the time bomb or logic bomb is detonated, it may perform a denial of service such as crashing the system, deleting critical data, or degrading system response time. This bomb might be placed within either a replicating or non-replicating Trojan horse.

Demonstrations

The following examples help to illustrate the nature of this weakness and describe methods or techniques which can be used to mitigate the risk.

Note that the examples here are by no means exhaustive and any given weakness may have many subtle varieties, each of which may require different detection methods or runtime controls.

Example One

Typical examples of triggers include system date or time mechanisms, random number generators, and counters that wait for an opportunity to launch their payload. When triggered, a time-bomb may deny service by crashing the system, deleting files, or degrading system response-time.

See Also

Comprehensive Categorization: Poor Coding Practices

Weaknesses in this category are related to poor coding practices.

SFP Primary Cluster: Malware

This category identifies Software Fault Patterns (SFPs) within the Malware cluster.

Comprehensive CWE Dictionary

This view (slice) covers all the elements in CWE.

Weaknesses in Mobile Applications

CWE entries in this view (slice) are often seen in mobile applications.

Weaknesses Introduced During Implementation

This view (slice) lists weaknesses that can be introduced during implementation.


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