CWE-460 Base Draft Medium likelihood

Improper Cleanup on Thrown Exception

This vulnerability occurs when a program fails to properly restore its state or release resources after an exception is thrown, leaving the application in an inconsistent or unexpected condition.

Definition

What is CWE-460?

This vulnerability occurs when a program fails to properly restore its state or release resources after an exception is thrown, leaving the application in an inconsistent or unexpected condition.
In complex functions or loops, temporary resources like file handles, database connections, or memory allocations often need careful management. When an exception interrupts the normal execution flow, cleanup code that runs during a successful path might be skipped entirely. This leaves resources dangling or data in a partially modified state, which can cause crashes, data corruption, or security issues like information disclosure. Managing this at scale is difficult; an ASPM like Plexicus can help you track and remediate these flaws across your entire stack. While SAST tools can identify risky patterns, Plexicus uses AI to analyze execution paths and suggest specific fixes—such as implementing finally blocks or using try-with-resources constructs—saving hours of manual code review and preventing unstable application behavior.
Real-world impact

Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-460

No public CVE references are linked to this CWE in MITRE's catalog yet.

How attackers exploit it

Step-by-step attacker path

  1. 1

    Identify a code path that handles untrusted input without validation.

  2. 2

    Craft a payload that exercises the unsafe behavior — injection, traversal, overflow, or logic abuse.

  3. 3

    Deliver the payload through a normal request and observe the application's reaction.

  4. 4

    Iterate until the response leaks data, executes attacker code, or escalates privileges.

Vulnerable code example

Vulnerable Java

The following example demonstrates the weakness.

Vulnerable Java 
public class foo {
  		public static final void main( String args[] ) {
  				boolean returnValue;
  				returnValue=doStuff();
  		}
  		public static final boolean doStuff( ) {
  				boolean threadLock;
  				boolean truthvalue=true;
  				try {
  						while(
```
//check some condition* 
  						) {
  						```
  								threadLock=true; //do some stuff to truthvalue
  								threadLock=false;
  						}
  				}
  				catch (Exception e){
  						System.err.println("You did something bad");
  						if (something) return truthvalue;
  				}
  				return truthvalue;
  		}
  }
Secure code example

Secure pseudo

Secure pseudo 
// Validate, sanitize, or use a safe API before reaching the sink.
function handleRequest(input) {
  const safe = validateAndEscape(input);
  return executeWithGuards(safe);
}
What changed: the unsafe sink is replaced (or the input is validated/escaped) so the same payload no longer triggers the weakness.
Prevention checklist

How to prevent CWE-460

  • Implementation If one breaks from a loop or function by throwing an exception, make sure that cleanup happens or that you should exit the program. Use throwing exceptions sparsely.
Detection signals

How to detect CWE-460

Automated Static Analysis High

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.)

Plexicus auto-fix

Plexicus auto-detects CWE-460 and opens a fix PR in under 60 seconds.

Codex Remedium scans every commit, identifies this exact weakness, and ships a reviewer-ready pull request with the patch. No tickets. No hand-offs.

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Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

What is CWE-460?

This vulnerability occurs when a program fails to properly restore its state or release resources after an exception is thrown, leaving the application in an inconsistent or unexpected condition.

How serious is CWE-460?

MITRE rates the likelihood of exploit as Medium — exploitation is realistic but typically requires specific conditions.

What languages or platforms are affected by CWE-460?

MITRE lists the following affected platforms: C, C++, Java, C#.

How can I prevent CWE-460?

If one breaks from a loop or function by throwing an exception, make sure that cleanup happens or that you should exit the program. Use throwing exceptions sparsely.

How does Plexicus detect and fix CWE-460?

Plexicus's SAST engine matches the data-flow signature for CWE-460 on every commit. When a match is found, our Codex Remedium agent opens a fix PR with the corrected code, tests, and a one-line summary for the reviewer.

Where can I learn more about CWE-460?

MITRE publishes the canonical definition at https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/460.html. You can also reference OWASP and NIST documentation for adjacent guidance.

Related weaknesses

Weaknesses related to CWE-460

CWE-459 Parent

Incomplete Cleanup

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to properly remove temporary files, data structures, or system resources after they…

CWE-226 Sibling

Sensitive Information in Resource Not Removed Before Reuse

This vulnerability occurs when a system releases a resource like memory or a file for reuse but fails to erase the sensitive data it…

CWE-568 Sibling

finalize() Method Without super.finalize()

This vulnerability occurs when a Java class overrides the finalize() method but fails to call super.finalize() within it.

Resources

Further reading

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