CWE-921: Storage of Sensitive Data in a Mechanism without… | Glexia
CWE-921 (Storage of Sensitive Data in a Mechanism without Access Control) weakness overview with consequences, detection methods, mitigations, related CVEs and…
Glexia's Take · Automated analysis
CWE-921: Storage of Sensitive Data in a Mechanism without Access Control
Storage of Sensitive Data in a Mechanism without Access Control represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Executive Impact
- Confidentiality: Read Application Data Read Files or Directories: Attackers can read sensitive information by accessing the unrestricted storage mechanism.
- Integrity: Modify Application Data Modify Files or Directories: Attackers can modify or delete sensitive information by accessing the unrestricted storage mechanism.
Developer Pattern
CWE-921 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-921, 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-921: Storage of Sensitive Data in a Mechanism without Access Control
The product stores sensitive information in a file system or device that does not have built-in access control.
While many modern file systems or devices utilize some form of access control in order to restrict access to data, not all storage mechanisms have this capability. For example, memory cards, floppy disks, CDs, and USB devices are typically made accessible to any user within the system. This can become a problem when sensitive data is stored in these mechanisms in a multi-user environment, because anybody on the system can read or write this data. On Android devices, external storage is typically globally readable and writable by other applications on the device. External storage may also be easily accessible through the mobile device's USB connection or physically accessible through the device's memory card port.
Developer And Remediation Guidance
How teams prevent and detect this weakness
Causes
- Missing validation
- Unsafe defaults
- Insufficient authorization or memory-safety invariant
Remediation
- Use safe APIs
- Centralize the control
- Add regression tests
- Review logs and telemetry for attempted abuse
Detection
- Code review
- SAST
- DAST
- Focused regression tests
Mappings
Related CVEs, CWEs, and ATT&CK context
ATT&CK Relevance
ATT&CK relevance is shown only when reviewed or responsibly inferred.