CWE-462—Duplicate Key in Associative List (Alist)

Weakness Name

Duplicate Key in Associative List (Alist)

Description

Duplicate keys in associative lists can lead to non-unique keys being mistaken for an error.

A duplicate key entry -- if the alist is designed properly -- could be used as a constant time replace function. However, duplicate key entries could be inserted by mistake. Because of this ambiguity, duplicate key entries in an association list are not recommended and should not be allowed.

Common Consequences

Scope:

Other

Impact:

Quality Degradation, Varies by Context

Related Weaknesses

• CWE-694Use of Multiple Resources with Duplicate Identifier