CAPEC-177
Create files with the same name as files protected with a higher classification
An attacker exploits file location algorithms in an operating system or application by creating a file with the same name as a protected or privileged file. The attacker could manipulate the system if the attacker-created file is trusted by the operating system or an application component that attempts to load the original file. Applications often load or include external files, such as libraries or configuration files. These files should be protected against malicious manipulation. However, if the application only uses the name of the file when locating it, an attacker may be able to create a file with the same name and place it in a directory that the application will search before the directory with the legitimate file is searched. Because the attackers' file is discovered first, it would be used by the target application. This attack can be extremely destructive if the referenced file is executable and/or is granted special privileges based solely on having a particular name.
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Explain the attack pattern CAPEC-177: Create files with the same name as files protected with a higher classification: how it unfolds, what it needs and how to prevent and detect it in my systems. Use https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/177.html and https://cve.bz/cve/capec/177?via=ask-ai-copy, which lists recent CVEs with the weaknesses it exploits. Cite the sources.Opens a third-party assistant; its answer is its own, not cve.bz's. The prompt holds only this attack pattern's id and public links.
Prerequisites
The target application must include external files. Most non-trivial applications meet this criterion.
The target application does not verify that a located file is the one it was looking for through means other than the name. Many applications fail to perform checks of this type.
The directories the target application searches to find the included file include directories writable by the attacker which are searched before the protected directory containing the actual files. It is much less common for applications to meet this criterion, but if an attacker can manipulate the application's search path (possibly by controlling environmental variables) then they can force this criterion to be met.
Resources required
The attacker must have sufficient access to place an arbitrarily named file somewhere early in the application's search path.
Weaknesses it exploits
- CWE-706 Use of Incorrectly-Resolved Name or Reference
Recent CVEs with these weaknesses
- 6.5CVE-2026-18484
IBM ContextForge MCP Gateway 1.0.0 through 1.0.11 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to cause a denial of service due to improper slug normalization causing tool name collisions.
- 9.6CVE-2026-121200
Incorrect reference resolution in DevTools in Google Chrome prior to 157.0.8103.38 allowed a remote attacker leveraging social engineering to potentially execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium securit…
- 8.1CVE-2026-121133
Incorrect reference resolution in Images in Google Chrome on on Mac prior to 157.0.8103.38 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via crafted network traffic. (Chrom…
- 5.2CVE-2026-119675
MongoDB Database Tools mongorestore inconsistently handles the system.buckets. prefix when validating collection names in an untrusted dump. A specially crafted collection name can bypass special-collection guards and operator namespace fi…
- 8.8CVE-2026-118938
In Trail of Bits fickling through 0.1.12, a pickle STACK_GLOBAL operand carrying a dotted __qualname__ (for example "Values.read_file") is resolved by pickle's find_class through _getattribute to an arbitrary attribute path rather than to …
- 8.8CVE-2026-119270
Incorrect reference resolution in CacheStorage in Google Chrome prior to 156.0.8078.79 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to obtain sensitive information via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity:…
- 8.8CVE-2026-119266
Incorrect reference resolution in Quota in Google Chrome prior to 156.0.8078.79 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to potentially execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium…
- 8.8CVE-2026-119265
Incorrect reference resolution in Quota in Google Chrome prior to 156.0.8078.79 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via crafted network traffic. (Chromium securit…
The newest records naming one of them. Each weakness's page lists them all.
Related attack patterns
- Part of
- CAPEC-17 Using Malicious Files
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