CREST Practitioner Security Analyst (CPSA) Practice

Which of the following vulnerabilities is caused by improper handling of application state in multi-threaded applications?

1. Deadlock

2. Race Conditions

3. Buffer Overflow

4. Code Injection

The correct answer is: Race Conditions

The selection of race conditions as the correct answer stems from an understanding of how multi-threaded applications manage shared data. In environments where multiple threads operate concurrently, they may interact with shared parts of the application state. If these interactions are not appropriately synchronized, it can lead to unpredictable behaviors, which are classified as race conditions. Race conditions occur when the outcome of a program is dependent on the relative timing of events, such as the execution order of threads. For example, if one thread reads a variable while another thread is writing to it simultaneously without proper locks or other synchronization mechanisms in place, the thread reading the variable may access inconsistent or stale data. This can lead to incorrect program behavior and security vulnerabilities, making it critical for developers to implement proper thread management and data protection techniques to avoid these issues. In contrast, other listed vulnerabilities do not stem from improper handling of application states in multi-threaded contexts. Deadlocks generally relate to threads being stuck waiting for each other, which is not the same as a chaotic interaction with shared states. Buffer overflows and code injections, on the other hand, are primarily associated with issues linked to memory management and input validation, respectively, rather than concurrent access management issues in multi-threaded environments.