SI-10 Information Input Validation
System and Information Integrity
Description
Check the validity of the following information inputs: [Assignment: organization-defined information inputs to the system].
Supplemental Guidance
Checking the valid syntax and semantics of system inputs—including character set, length, numerical range, and acceptable values—verifies that inputs match specified definitions for format and content. For example, if the organization specifies that numerical values between 1-100 are the only acceptable inputs for a field in a given application, inputs of "387,""abc," or "%K%" are invalid inputs and are not accepted as input to the system. Valid inputs are likely to vary from field to field within a software application. Applications typically follow well-defined protocols that use structured messages (i.e., commands or queries) to communicate between software modules or system components. Structured messages can contain raw or unstructured data interspersed with metadata or control information. If software applications use attacker-supplied inputs to construct structured messages without properly encoding such messages, then the attacker could insert malicious commands or special characters that can cause the data to be interpreted as control information or metadata. Consequently, the module or component that receives the corrupted output will perform the wrong operations or otherwise interpret the data incorrectly. Prescreening inputs prior to passing them to interpreters prevents the content from being unintentionally interpreted as commands. Input validation ensures accurate and correct inputs and prevents attacks such as cross-site scripting and a variety of injection attacks.
Enhancements (6)
What NIST adds to this control. Select one to read its statement.
SI-10(01) Manual Override Capability
a. Provide a manual override capability for input validation of the following information inputs: [Assignment: organization-defined inputs defined in the base control (SI-10)]; b. Restrict the use of the manual override capability to only [Assignment: organization-defined authorized individuals]; and c. Audit the use of the manual override capability.
SI-10(02) Review and Resolve Errors
Review and resolve input validation errors within [Assignment: organization-defined time period].
SI-10(03) Predictable Behavior
Verify that the system behaves in a predictable and documented manner when invalid inputs are received.
SI-10(04) Timing Interactions
Account for timing interactions among system components in determining appropriate responses for invalid inputs.
SI-10(05) Restrict Inputs to Trusted Sources and Approved Formats
Restrict the use of information inputs to [Assignment: organization-defined trusted sources] and/or [Assignment: organization-defined formats].
SI-10(06) Injection Prevention
Prevent untrusted data injections.
Patterns that use this control (16)
Grouped by the emphasis each pattern gives it.
Critical (7)
Important (5)
MITRE ATT&CK Techniques (101)
ATT&CK v16.1Techniques mitigated by this control, mapped via CTID.