CWE-783 Operator Precedence Logic Error

The product uses an expression in which operator precedence causes incorrect logic to be used.

• Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability: Varies by Context, Unexpected State — While often just a bug, operator precedence logic errors can have serious consequences if they are used in security-critical code, such as making an authentication decision. The consequences will vary based on the context surrounding the incorrect precedence. In a security decision, violations of integrity or confidentiality are the most likely results. Otherwise, a crash may occur due to the software reaching an unexpected state.

• [Implementation] Regularly wrap sub-expressions in parentheses, especially in security-critical code.

• 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.)

• CVE-2026-7270: Chain: calculation expression does not use parentheses to address operator precedence (CWE-783), causing an incorrect calculation (CWE-682) leading to a buffer overflow (CWE-787). • CVE-2008-2516: Authentication module allows authentication bypass because it uses "(x = call(args) == SUCCESS)" instead of "((x = call(args)) == SUCCESS)". • CVE-2008-0599: Chain: Language interpreter calculates wrong buffer size (CWE-131) by using "size = ptr ? X : Y" instead of "size = (ptr ? X : Y)" expression. • CVE-2001-1155: Chain: product does not properly check the result of a reverse DNS lookup because of operator precedence (CWE-783), allowing bypass of DNS-based access restrictions.