CWE-690—Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference

Weakness Name

Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference

Description

The product does not check for an error after calling a function that can return with a NULL pointer if the function fails, which leads to a resultant NULL pointer dereference.

While unchecked return value weaknesses are not limited to returns of NULL pointers (see the examples in CWE-252), functions often return NULL to indicate an error status. When this error condition is not checked, a NULL pointer dereference can occur.

Common Consequences

Scope:

Availability

Impact:

DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

Scope:

Integrity, Confidentiality, Availability

Impact:

Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Read Memory, Modify Memory

Notes:

In rare circumstances, when NULL is equivalent to the 0x0 memory address and privileged code can access it, then writing or reading memory is possible, which may lead to code execution.

Related Weaknesses

• CWE-252Unchecked Return ValueLow