CWE -
CWE-248: Uncaught Exception (4.20) ([original](http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/248.html)) ([raw](?raw))| CWE Glossary Definition |  |
|---|---|
Weakness ID: 248
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.
Description
An exception is thrown from a function, but it is not caught.
Extended Description
When an exception is not caught, it may cause the program to crash or expose sensitive information.
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.
| Impact | Details |
|---|---|
| DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Read Application Data | Scope: Availability, Confidentiality An uncaught exception could cause the system to be placed in a state that could lead to a crash, exposure of sensitive information or other unintended behaviors. |
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" (View-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. |
705 | Incorrect Control Flow Scoping |
| 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. |
755 | Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions |
| ParentOf |  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. |
600 | Uncaught Exception in Servlet |
Relevant to the view "Software Development" (View-699)
| Nature | Type | ID | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| MemberOf |  Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. |
389 | Error Conditions, Return Values, Status Codes |
Relevant to the view "CISQ Quality Measures (2020)" (View-1305)
| Nature | Type | ID | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChildOf |  Pillar - a weakness that is the most abstract type of weakness and represents a theme for all class/base/variant weaknesses related to it. A Pillar is different from a Category as a Pillar is still technically a type of weakness that describes a mistake, while a Category represents a common characteristic used to group related things. |
703 | Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions |
Relevant to the view "CISQ Data Protection Measures" (View-1340)
| Nature | Type | ID | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChildOf | Pillar - a weakness that is the most abstract type of weakness and represents a theme for all class/base/variant weaknesses related to it. A Pillar is different from a Category as a Pillar is still technically a type of weakness that describes a mistake, while a Category represents a common characteristic used to group related things. |
703 | Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions |
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 |
Applicable Platforms
This 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 | C++(Undetermined Prevalence) Java(Undetermined Prevalence) C#(Undetermined Prevalence) |
|---|
Demonstrative Examples
Example 1
The following example attempts to resolve a hostname.
(bad code)
Example Language: Java
protected void doPost (HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) throws IOException {
String ip = req.getRemoteAddr();
InetAddress addr = InetAddress.getByName(ip);
...
out.println("hello " + addr.getHostName());
}
A DNS lookup failure will cause the Servlet to throw an exception.
Example 2
The _alloca() function allocates memory on the stack. If an allocation request is too large for the available stack space, _alloca() throws an exception. If the exception is not caught, the program will crash, potentially enabling a denial of service attack. _alloca() has been deprecated as of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005(R). It has been replaced with the more secure _alloca_s().
Example 3
EnterCriticalSection() can raise an exception, potentially causing the program to crash. Under operating systems prior to Windows 2000, the EnterCriticalSection() function can raise an exception in low memory situations. If the exception is not caught, the program will crash, potentially enabling a denial of service attack.
Selected Observed Examples
Note: this is a curated list of examples for users to understand the variety of ways in which this weakness can be introduced. It is not a complete list of all CVEs that are related to this CWE entry.
| Reference | Description |
|---|---|
| CVE-2023-41151 | SDK for OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) server has uncaught exception when a socket is blocked for writing but the server tries to send an error |
| CVE-2023-21087 | Java code in a smartphone OS can encounter a "boot loop" due to an uncaught exception |
Weakness Ordinalities
| Ordinality | Description |
|---|---|
| Primary | (where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses) |
Detection Methods
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
| 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.) Effectiveness: High |
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.
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. |
Taxonomy Mappings
| Mapped Taxonomy Name | Node ID | Fit | Mapped Node Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Pernicious Kingdoms | Often Misused: Exception Handling | ||
| The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011) | ERR05-J | Do not let checked exceptions escape from a finally block | |
| The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011) | ERR06-J | Do not throw undeclared checked exceptions | |
| SEI CERT Perl Coding Standard | EXP31-PL | Exact | Do not suppress or ignore exceptions |
| Software Fault Patterns | SFP4 | Unchecked Status Condition |
References
Content History
| Submissions |
||
|---|---|---|
| Submission Date | Submitter | Organization |
| 2006-07-19(CWE Draft 3, 2006-07-19) | 7 Pernicious Kingdoms | |
 Modifications |
||
| Modification Date | Modifier | Organization |
| 2025-12-11(CWE 4.19, 2025-12-11) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Relationships, Weakness_Ordinalities | ||
| 2024-02-29(CWE 4.14, 2024-02-29) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Observed_Examples | ||
| 2023-06-29(CWE 4.12, 2023-06-29) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Mapping_Notes, Relationships | ||
| 2023-04-27(CWE 4.11, 2023-04-27) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Detection_Factors, Relationships | ||
| 2021-03-15(CWE 4.4, 2021-03-15) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Relationships | ||
| 2020-12-10(CWE 4.3, 2020-12-10) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Relationships | ||
| 2020-08-20(CWE 4.2, 2020-08-20) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Relationships | ||
| 2020-02-24(CWE 4.0, 2020-02-24) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated References | ||
| 2019-06-20(CWE 3.3, 2019-06-20) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Related_Attack_Patterns | ||
| 2019-01-03(CWE 3.2, 2019-01-03) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings | ||
| 2017-11-08(CWE 3.0, 2017-11-08) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings | ||
| 2014-07-30(CWE 2.8, 2014-07-31) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings | ||
| 2012-05-11(CWE 2.2, 2012-05-15) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Common_Consequences, Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings | ||
| 2011-06-01(CWE 1.13, 2011-06-01) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Common_Consequences, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings | ||
| 2011-03-29(CWE 1.12, 2011-03-30) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Description, Relationships | ||
| 2009-03-10(CWE 1.3, 2009-03-10) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Relationships | ||
| 2008-10-14(CWE 1.0.1, 2008-10-14) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Applicable_Platforms | ||
| 2008-09-24(CWE 1.1, 2008-11-25) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| Removed C from Applicable_Platforms | ||
| 2008-09-08(CWE 1.0, 2008-09-09) | CWE Content Team | MITRE |
| updated Applicable_Platforms, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings | ||
| 2008-08-15(CWE 1.0, 2008-09-09) | Veracode | |
| Suggested OWASP Top Ten 2004 mapping | ||
| 2008-07-01(CWE 1.0, 2008-09-09) | Eric Dalci | Cigital |
| updated Time_of_Introduction | ||
| Previous Entry Names |
||
| Change Date | Previous Entry Name | |
| 2008-01-30 | Often Misused: Exception Handling |
More information is available — Please edit the custom filter or select a different filter.