CWE-587
Weakness AllowedAssignment of a Fixed Address to a Pointer
Abstraction: Variant · Status: Draft
The product sets a pointer to a specific address other than NULL or 0.
Mapping guidance
This CWE entry is at the Variant level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.
Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.
Modes of introduction
Detection methods
Automated Static Analysis
Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)
Automated Dynamic Analysis
Use tools that are integrated during compilation to insert runtime error-checking mechanisms related to memory safety errors, such as AddressSanitizer (ASan) for C/C++ [REF-1518].
Effectiveness: Moderate
Crafted inputs are necessary to reach the code containing the error, such as generated by fuzzers. Also, these tools may reduce performance, and they only report the error condition - not the original mistake that led to the error.
Content history
updated Time_of_Introduction
added/updated white box definitions
updated Applicable_Platforms, Description, Relationships, Other_Notes, Weakness_Ordinalities
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
updated Relationships
updated Common_Consequences, Description, Other_Notes
updated Common_Consequences
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
updated Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
updated Applicable_Platforms, Taxonomy_Mappings, White_Box_Definitions
updated Relationships
updated Common_Consequences, Weakness_Ordinalities
updated Description
updated Relationships, Time_of_Introduction, Type
updated Mapping_Notes
updated Demonstrative_Examples
updated Affected_Resources, Functional_Areas
updated Applicable_Platforms, Detection_Factors, References
updated Description
2 vulnerabilities reference this CWE, most recent first.
CVE-2021-28216 (GCVE-0-2021-28216)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2021-08-05 20:44 – Updated: 2025-11-03 19:25- CWE-587 - A case of CWE-587 occurs in function FpdtStatusCodeListenerPei().
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://bugzilla.tianocore.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2957 | x_refsource_MISC |
| https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025… |
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GHSA-6WGV-VJ43-RPR5
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2022-05-24 19:10 – Updated: 2025-11-03 21:30BootPerformanceTable pointer is read from an NVRAM variable in PEI. Recommend setting PcdFirmwarePerformanceDataTableS3Support to FALSE.
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"modified": "2025-11-03T21:30:32Z",
"published": "2022-05-24T19:10:05Z",
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}
Mitigation
Never set a pointer to a fixed address.
No CAPEC attack patterns related to this CWE.