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Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-773

Allowed

Missing Reference to Active File Descriptor or Handle

Abstraction: Variant · Status: Incomplete

The product does not properly maintain references to a file descriptor or handle, which prevents that file descriptor/handle from being reclaimed.

0 vulnerabilities reference this CWE, most recent first.

No vulnerabilities reference this CWE.

Mitigation MIT-47
Operation Architecture and Design

Strategy: Resource Limitation

  • Use resource-limiting settings provided by the operating system or environment. For example, when managing system resources in POSIX, setrlimit() can be used to set limits for certain types of resources, and getrlimit() can determine how many resources are available. However, these functions are not available on all operating systems.
  • When the current levels get close to the maximum that is defined for the application (see CWE-770), then limit the allocation of further resources to privileged users; alternately, begin releasing resources for less-privileged users. While this mitigation may protect the system from attack, it will not necessarily stop attackers from adversely impacting other users.
  • Ensure that the application performs the appropriate error checks and error handling in case resources become unavailable (CWE-703).

No CAPEC attack patterns related to this CWE.