Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-500

Weakness Allowed

Public Static Field Not Marked Final

Abstraction: Variant · Status: Draft

API response cwe.mitre.org

An object contains a public static field that is not marked final.

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.

Relationships and members
ChildOf: CWE-493 · View CWE-1000
Modes of introduction
Implementation
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.)

Effectiveness: High

Content history
Submission: CLASP · 2006-07-19 · CWE Draft 3
Modification: Eric Dalci · Cigital · 2008-07-01 · CWE 1.0

updated Time_of_Introduction

Modification: · KDM Analytics · 2008-08-01 · CWE 1.0

added/updated white box definitions

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2008-09-08 · CWE 1.0

updated Applicable_Platforms, Common_Consequences, Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2008-11-05 · CWE 1.1

Significant clarification of this entry, and improved examples.

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2008-11-24 · CWE 1.1

updated Background_Details, Demonstrative_Examples, Description, Name, Other_Notes, Potential_Mitigations

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2009-05-27 · CWE 1.4

updated Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2011-06-01 · CWE 1.13

updated Common_Consequences, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2012-05-11 · CWE 2.2

updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2012-10-30 · CWE 2.3

updated Demonstrative_Examples, Description, Potential_Mitigations

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2014-07-30 · CWE 2.8

updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2017-11-08 · CWE 3.0

updated White_Box_Definitions

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2019-01-03 · CWE 3.2

updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2020-02-24 · CWE 4.0

updated References, Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2023-04-27 · CWE 4.11

updated Detection_Factors, Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2023-06-29 · CWE 4.12

updated Mapping_Notes

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2025-12-11 · CWE 4.19

updated Relationships, Weakness_Ordinalities

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2026-10-28 · CWE 5.0

updated Common_Consequences, Description

0 vulnerabilities reference this CWE, most recent first.

No vulnerabilities reference this CWE.

Mitigation
Architecture and Design

Clearly identify the scope for all critical data elements, including whether they should be regarded as static.

Mitigation
Implementation
  • Make any static fields private and constant.
  • A constant field is denoted by the keyword 'const' in C/C++ and ' final' in Java

No CAPEC attack patterns related to this CWE.

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