CWE-474: Use of Function with Inconsistent Implementations | Glexia
CWE-474 (Use of Function with Inconsistent Implementations) weakness overview with consequences, detection methods, mitigations, related CVEs and MITRE ATT&CK…
Glexia's Take · Automated analysis
CWE-474: Use of Function with Inconsistent Implementations
Use of Function with Inconsistent Implementations represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Executive Impact
- Other: Quality Degradation Varies by Context
Developer Pattern
CWE-474 is the kind of defect developers can usually prevent with explicit validation, safer framework defaults, and tests that exercise hostile input or unsafe state transitions.
Automation confidence
high confidence from CWE-474, 4.20.
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Official CWE Definition
CWE-474: Use of Function with Inconsistent Implementations
The code uses a function that has inconsistent implementations across operating systems and versions.
The use of inconsistent implementations can cause changes in behavior when the code is ported or built under a different environment than the programmer expects, which can lead to security problems in some cases. The implementation of many functions varies by platform, and at times, even by different versions of the same platform. Implementation differences can include: Slight differences in the way parameters are interpreted leading to inconsistent results. Some implementations of the function carry significant security risks. The function might not be defined on all platforms. The function might change which return codes it can provide, or change the meaning of its return codes.
Developer And Remediation Guidance
How teams prevent and detect this weakness
Causes
- Missing validation
- Unsafe defaults
- Insufficient authorization or memory-safety invariant
Remediation
- Architecture and Design Requirements: Do not accept inconsistent behavior from the API specifications when the deviant behavior increase the risk level.
Detection
- 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.)
Mappings
Related CVEs, CWEs, and ATT&CK context
Related CWEs
ATT&CK Relevance
ATT&CK relevance is shown only when reviewed or responsibly inferred.