VNX-396 – Declaration of Catch for Generic Exception

Overview

VNX-396 maps to CWE-396: Declaration of Catch for Generic Exception. Detects source patterns associated with CWE-396 (Declaration of Catch for Generic Exception). Each finding should be manually reviewed for exploitability in context.

Severity: Low | CWE: CWE-396 | Languages: java

Why This Matters

This weakness class (Declaration of Catch for Generic Exception) creates a concrete exploit surface: the rule searches for the concrete source-level patterns most commonly associated with CWE-396 and surfaces them for review. Each finding should be evaluated in context — the rule catches the pattern, not the context.

What Gets Flagged

// FLAGGED: contains 'catch(RuntimeException' pattern
catch(RuntimeException

Remediation

  1. Review each flagged line and determine whether the pattern represents a real instance of CWE-396 or a false positive.
  2. Replace the flagged construct with a documented safe alternative appropriate to your language and framework.
  3. For confirmed false positives, add a # vulnetix-ignore: VNX-396 comment on the line.
  4. Ensure equivalent test coverage exists to prevent regression.

References