<!DOCTYPE qhelp PUBLIC

"-//Semmle//qhelp//EN"

"qhelp.dtd">

<qhelp>

<overview>

<p>When a command is executed with a relative path, the runtime uses

the PATH environment variable to find which executable to run. Therefore, any

user who can change the PATH environment variable can cause the

software to run a different, malicious executable.</p>

</overview>

<recommendation>

<p>In most cases, simply use a command that has an absolute path instead of a relative path.</p>

<p>In some cases, the location of the executable might be different on

different installations. In such cases, consider specifying the

location of key executables with some form of configuration. When using

this approach, be careful that the configuration system is not itself

vulnerable to malicious modifications.</p>

</recommendation>

<example>

<sample src="ExecRelative.java" />

</example>

<references>

<!-- LocalWords: CWE executables

-->

</references>

</qhelp>