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The fopen() function does not allow the programmer to explicitly specify file access permissions. In this noncompliant code example, if the call to fopen() creates a new file, the access permissions are implementation-defined.:

char *file_name;
FILE *fp;

/* initializeInitialize file_name */

fp = fopen(file_name, "w");
if (!fp){
  /* Handle error */
}

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On POSIX-compliant systems, the permissions may be restricted by the value of the POSIX umask() function [Open Group 2004IEEE Std 1003.1:2013].

The operating system modifies the access permissions by computing the intersection of the inverse of the umask and the permissions requested by the process [Viega 2003]. For example, if the variable requested_permissions contained the permissions passed to the operating system to create a new file, the variable actual_permissions would be the actual permissions that the operating system would use to create the file:

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For OpenBSD and Linux operating systems, any file created will have mode S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR|S_IRGRP|S_IWGRP|S_IROTH|S_IWOTH (0666), as modified by the process's umask value. (See fopen(3) in the OpenBSD Manual Pages [OpenBSD].)

Compliant Solution (fopen_s(),

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C11 Annex K)

The ISO/IEC TR 24731-1 C11 Annex K function fopen_s() can be used to create a file with restricted permissions [ISO/IEC TR 24731-1:20079899:2011]:

If the file is being created, and the first character of the mode string is not 'u', to the extent that the underlying system supports it, the file shall have a file permission that prevents other users on the system from accessing the file. If the file is being created and the first character of the mode string is 'u', then by the time the file has been closed, it shall have the system default file access permissions.

The u character can be thought of as standing for "umask," meaning that these are the same permissions that the file would have been created with had it been created by fopen(). In this compliant solution, the u mode character is omitted so that the file is opened with restricted privileges (regardless of the umask).:

char *file_name;
FILE *fp;

/* Initialize file_name */

errno_t res = fopen_s(&fp, file_name, "wwx");
if (res != 0) {
  /* Handle error */
}

On Windows, fopen_s() will create the file with security permissions based on the user executing the application. For more controlled permission schemes, consider using the CreateFile() function and specifying the SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES parameter.

Noncompliant Code Example (open(), POSIX)

Using the POSIX open() function to create a file but failing to provide access permissions for that file may cause the file to be created with overly permissive access permissions. This omission has been known to lead to vulnerabilities, for —for example, CVE-2006-1174.

char *file_name;
int fd;

/* initializeInitialize file_name */

fd = open(file_name, O_CREAT | O_WRONLY);
/* accessAccess permissions were missing */

if (fd == -1){
  /* Handle error */
}

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Creating files with weak access permissions may allow unintended access to those files.

Automated Detection

Related Vulnerabilities

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

Related Guidelines

Bibliography

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