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Wiki Markup A nested class is any class whose declaration occurs within the body of another class or interface \ [[JLS 2005|AA. Bibliography#JLS 05]\]. The use of a nested class is error-prone unless the semantics are well understood. A common notion is that only the outer class can access the contents of the nested class. Not only does the nested class have access to the private fields of the outer class, the same fields can be accessed by another class within the package when the nested class is declared public or if it contains public methods or constructors. As a result the nested class must not expose the private members of the outer class to external classes or packages. JLS 2015]. The use of a nested class is error prone unless the semantics are well understood. A common notion is that only the nested class may access the contents of the outer class. Not only does the nested class have access to the private fields of the outer class, but the same fields can be accessed by any other class within the package when the nested class is declared public or if it contains public methods or constructors. As a result, the nested class must not expose the private members of the outer class to external classes or packages.

According to The Java Language Specification (JLS), §8.3, "Field Declarations" [JLS 2015]: Wiki MarkupAlso, according to the _Java Language Specification_ \[[JLS 2005|AA. Bibliography#JLS 05]\], [§8.3|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/classes.html#8.3] "Field Declarations,"

Note that a private field of a superclass might be accessible to a subclass (for example, if both classes are members of the same class). Nevertheless, a private field is never inherited by a subclass.

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This noncompliant code example exposes the sensitive private (x,y) coordinates through the getPoint() method of the inner class. Consequently, the AnotherClass class that belongs to the same package can also access the coordinates.

class Coordinates {
  private int x;
  private int y;

  public class Point {
    public void getPoint() {
      System.out.println("(" + x + "," + y + ")");
    }
  }
}

class AnotherClass {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Coordinates c = new Coordinates();
    Coordinates.Point p = c.new Point();
    p.getPoint();
  }
}

...

Use the private access specifier for hiding to hide the inner class and all contained methods and constructors.

class Coordinates {
  private int x;
  private int y;

  private class Point {
    private void getPoint() {
      System.out.println("(" + x + "," + y + ")");
    }
  }
}

class AnotherClass {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Coordinates c = new Coordinates();
    Coordinates.Point p = c.new Point();    // failsFails to compile
    p.getPoint();
  }
}

...

The Java language system weakens the accessibility of sensitive, private entities in inner classesprivate members of an outer class when a nested inner class is present, which can result in a security weaknessan information leak.

Automated Detection

Automated detection of non-private nested nonprivate inner classes that define non-private nonprivate members and constructors is straightforward. However, this rule applies only when those classes could potentially expose sensitive data or operations that leak private data from the outer class . Detection of sensitive data or operations requires programmer assistance.is straightforward.

Related Guidelines

Bibliography

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[

[

[JLS 2005

AA. Bibliography#JLS 05]]

JLS 2015]

§8.1.3, Inner Classes and Enclosing Instances

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/classes.html#8.1.3] ]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro>

 

§8.3, "Field Declarations

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"

ac:macro-id="e5c0deb8-471f-4ad0-bece-b948dca024dd"><ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[

[

[

Long 2005

AA. Bibliography#Long 05

]

] §2

Section 2.3,

Inner Classes

]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro>

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[[McGraw 1999

AA. Bibliography#McGraw 99]]

"Inner Classes"
[McGraw 1999]	Securing Java:

Securing Java,

Getting Down to Business with Mobile Code

]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro>

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