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Wiki MarkupThe principle of least privilege states that every program and every user of the system should operate using the least set of privileges necessary to complete the job \[ [Saltzer 1974|AA. Bibliography#Saltzer 74], [Saltzer 1975|AA. Bibliography#Saltzer 75]\]. The Build Security In website \[ [DHS 2006|AA. Bibliography#DHS 06]\] provides additional definitions of this principle. Executing with minimal privileges mitigates against exploitation in case a vulnerability is discovered in the code.

Noncompliant Code Example

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Related Vulnerabilities

Wiki Markup[CVE-2009-2031|http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2009-2031] results from a violation of this recommendation. OpenSolaris in smbfs snv_84 through snv_110 sets permissions based on mount point options and not actual user information (obtained from the {{getuid()}} and {{getgid()}} functions). An attacker can exploit this to achieve higher permissions. Also, in a certain initialization mode, the code grants read, write, and execute permissions to users other than the owner, which can be exploited to make files world readable \ [[xorl 2009|http://xorl .wordpress.com/ 2009/06/14/opensolaris-cifssmb-invalid-file-flags/]\].

Search for vulnerabilities resulting from the violation of this rule on the CERT website.

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MITRE CWE: CWE-272, "Least Privilege Violation"

Bibliography

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\[[DHS 2006|AA. Bibliography#DHS 06] \] [Least Privilege |https://buildsecurityin.us-cert.gov/daisy/bsi/articles/knowledge/principles/351.html] \[[Saltzer 1974|AA. Bibliography#Saltzer 74]\] \[[Saltzer 1975|AA. Bibliography#Saltzer 75]\] \[[Wheeler 2003|AA. Bibliography#Wheeler 03]\] [Section Privilege
[Saltzer 1974]
[Saltzer 1975]
[Wheeler 2003] Section 7.4, "Minimize Privileges"|http://www.dwheeler.com/secure-programs/Secure-Programs-HOWTO/minimize-privileges.html] \[[xorl 2009|AA. Bibliography#xorl 2009]\] ["OpenSolaris CIFS/SMB Invalid File Flags"|http://xorl.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/opensolaris-cifssmb-invalid-file-flags/]
[xorl 2009] "OpenSolaris CIFS/SMB Invalid File Flags"

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      50. POSIX (POS)      POS03-C. Do not use volatile as a synchronization primitive