CWE-190 Integer Overflow or Wraparound

Coverage: 5 rules in the SiteShadow rule registry target this CWE (registry v2.0.0). Regex 5 Also: Taint and heuristic analyzers may also detect related flows (see coverage for the authoritative list) Registry tagging shows intent, for sample-level behaviour and benchmarked gaps see known gaps.

What this means

SiteShadow flagged integer math that can overflow/wrap and break safety checks (sizes, indices, limits). This is most critical in low-level languages, but can also matter in application code when values cross trust boundaries.

Why it matters

Overflows can bypass bounds checks or cause unexpected behavior.

• Memory safety bugs: in C/C++ this can lead to out-of-bounds access and RCE.
• Logic bypass: negative/overflowed sizes can bypass "max size" or "min value" checks.

Safer examples

1) Validate ranges and reject unexpected values

Validate sizes and counts at trust boundaries (see CWE-20 / CWE-400).

2) Use safe integer APIs where available

In languages with safe integer helpers (checked arithmetic), use them for sizes and indices.

3) Prefer languages/runtimes with built-in overflow safety

Even then, validate the maximums you will accept before allocating or looping.

How SiteShadow detects it (high level)

• Flags size/index arithmetic that combines untrusted inputs with allocations/loops.
• Detects patterns where negative or overflowed values could bypass checks.

References

• CWE-190: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/190.html

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