CWE-495 Private Data Structure Returned From A Public Method

The product has a method that is declared public, but returns a reference to a private data structure, which could then be modified in unexpected ways.

• Integrity: Modify Application Data — The contents of the data structure can be modified from outside the intended scope.

• [Implementation] Declare the method private. • [Implementation] Clone the member data and keep an unmodified version of the data private to the object. • [Implementation] Use public setter methods that govern how a private member can be modified.

• 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.)