Weaknesses Introduced During Design
A view in the Common Weakness Enumeration published by The MITRE Corporation.
Objective
Views in the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) represent one perspective with which to consider a set of weaknesses.
This view (slice) lists weaknesses that can be introduced during design.
Weaknesses
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize absolute path sequences such ...
The product, when processing trusted data, accepts any untrusted data that is also included with the trusted data, treating the untrusted data as if it were trusted.
The product defines a public method that reads or modifies a private variable.
The accidental addition of a data-structure sentinel can cause serious programming logic problems.
The product allocates file descriptors or handles on behalf of an actor without imposing any restrictions on how many descriptors can be allocated, in violation of the...
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be ...
The code contains a control flow path that does not reflect the algorithm that the path is intended to implement, leading to incorrect behavior any time this path is n...
The product provides an application for administrators to manage parts of the underlying operating system, but the application does not accurately identify all of the ...
The product's architecture contains too many - or too few - horizontal layers.
The ASP.NET application does not use, or incorrectly uses, the model validation framework.
The ASP.NET application does not use an input validation framework.
Storing a plaintext password in a configuration file allows anyone who can read the file access to the password-protected resource making them an easy target for attac...
The product sets a pointer to a specific address other than NULL or 0.
The product does not properly control situations in which an adversary can cause the product to consume or produce excessive resources without requiring the adversary ...
Casting a non-structure type to a structure type and accessing a field can lead to memory access errors or data corruption.
The product performs authentication based on the name of a resource being accessed, or the name of the actor performing the access, but it does not properly check all ...
The authentication scheme or implementation uses key data elements that are assumed to be immutable, but can be controlled or modified by the attacker.
A capture-replay flaw exists when the design of the product makes it possible for a malicious user to sniff network traffic and bypass authentication by replaying it t...
The authentication algorithm is sound, but the implemented mechanism can be bypassed as the result of a separate weakness that is primary to the authentication error.
This attack-focused weakness is caused by incorrectly implemented authentication schemes that are subject to spoofing attacks.
A product requires authentication, but the product has an alternate path or channel that does not require authentication.
The product modifies the SSL context after connection creation has begun.
The system's authorization functionality does not prevent one user from gaining access to another user's data or record by modifying the key value identifying the data.
The product uses a database table that includes records that should not be accessible to an actor, but it executes a SQL statement with a primary key that can be contr...
The product uses an automated mechanism such as machine learning to recognize complex data inputs (e.g. image or audio) as a particular concept or category, but it doe...
A's behavior or functionality changes with a new version of A, or a new environment, which is not known (or manageable) by B.
The product writes to a buffer using an index or pointer that references a memory location prior to the beginning of the buffer.
The product uses an API function that does not exist on all versions of the target platform. This could cause portability problems or inconsistencies that allow denial...
The product does not adequately verify the identity of actors at both ends of a communication channel, or does not adequately ensure the integrity of the channel, in a...
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext in a file, or on disk.
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext in the registry.
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext within a resource that might be accessible to another control sphere.
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext in a cookie.
The product uses an environment variable to store unencrypted sensitive information.
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext in an executable.
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext within the GUI.
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext in memory.
The product transmits sensitive or security-critical data in cleartext in a communication channel that can be sniffed by unauthorized actors.
The product is composed of a server that relies on the client to implement a mechanism that is intended to protect the server.
A device's real time power consumption may be monitored during security token evaluation and the information gleaned may be used to determine the value of the referenc...
The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a ...
A product performs a series of non-atomic actions to switch between contexts that cross privilege or other security boundaries, but a race condition allows an attacker...
Covert timing channels convey information by modulating some aspect of system behavior over time, so that the program receiving the information can observe system beha...
The CPU is not configured to provide hardware support for exclusivity of write and execute operations on memory. This allows an attacker to execute data from all of me...
The product creates a temporary file in a directory whose permissions allow unintended actors to determine the file's existence or otherwise access that file.
Opening temporary files without appropriate measures or controls can leave the file, its contents and any function that it impacts vulnerable to attack.
The product declares a critical variable, field, or member to be public when intended security policy requires it to be private.
The web application does not, or can not, sufficiently verify whether a well-formed, valid, consistent request was intentionally provided by the user who submitted the...
Performing cryptographic operations without ensuring that the supporting inputs are ready to supply valid data may compromise the cryptographic result.
The product uses a signal handler that shares state with other signal handlers, but it does not properly mask or prevent those signal handlers from being invoked while...
Catching overly broad exceptions promotes complex error handling code that is more likely to contain security vulnerabilities.
Throwing overly broad exceptions promotes complex error handling code that is more likely to contain security vulnerabilities.
The accidental deletion of a data-structure sentinel can cause serious programming logic problems.
The product has a dependency on a third-party component that contains one or more known vulnerabilities.
The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid.
The product detects a specific error, but takes no actions to handle the error.
The web application does not adequately enforce appropriate authorization on all restricted URLs, scripts, or files.
The product enables a Direct Memory Access (DMA) capable device before the security configuration settings are established, which allows an attacker to extract data fr...
The product calls free() twice on the same memory address, potentially leading to modification of unexpected memory locations.
The product downloads source code or an executable from a remote location and executes the code without sufficiently verifying the origin and integrity of the code.
Duplicate keys in associative lists can lead to non-unique keys being mistaken for an error.
The product violates the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification by using AWT/Swing.
The product violates the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification by using the class loader.
The product violates the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification by using the java.io package.
The product violates the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification by using sockets.
The product violates the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification by using thread synchronization primitives.
Using an empty string as a password is insecure.
The product performs an operation at a privilege level that is higher than the minimum level required, which creates new weaknesses or amplifies the consequences of ot...
A feature, API, or function does not perform according to its specification.
The product provides an Applications Programming Interface (API) or similar interface for interaction with external actors, but the interface includes a dangerous meth...
The product implements an IOCTL with functionality that should be restricted, but it does not properly enforce access control for the IOCTL.
An ActiveX control is intended for use in a web browser, but it exposes dangerous methods that perform actions that are outside of the browser's security model (e.g. t...
A process does not close sensitive file descriptors before invoking a child process, which allows the child to perform unauthorized I/O operations using those descript...
A command shell error message indicates that there exists an unhandled exception in the web application code. In many cases, an attacker can leverage the conditions th...
The product does not properly prevent a person's private, personal information from being accessed by actors who either (1) are not explicitly authorized to access the...
The product exposes a resource to the wrong control sphere, providing unintended actors with inappropriate access to the resource.
The product's intended functionality exposes information to certain actors in accordance with the developer's security policy, but this information is regarded as sens...
When trying to keep information confidential, an attacker can often infer some of the information by using statistics.
The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.
The hardware does not fully clear security-sensitive values, such as keys and intermediate values in cryptographic operations, when debug mode is entered.
The Web services architecture may require exposing a Web Service Definition Language (WSDL) file that contains information on the publicly accessible services and how ...
The product stores security-critical state information about its users, or the product itself, in a location that is accessible to unauthorized actors.
The product allows user input to control or influence paths or file names that are used in filesystem operations.
The product does not prevent the definition of control spheres from external actors.
The product initializes critical internal variables or data stores using inputs that can be modified by untrusted actors.
The product uses an externally controlled name or reference that resolves to a resource that is outside of the intended control sphere.
The product performs an operation that triggers an external diagnostic or error message that is not directly generated or controlled by the product, such as an error g...
The address map of the on-chip fabric has protected and unprotected regions overlapping, allowing an attacker to bypass access control to the overlapping portion of th...
The reserved bits in a hardware design are not disabled prior to production. Typically, reserved bits are used for future capabilities and should not support any funct...
The product does not properly handle when a particular element is not completely specified.
If too few arguments are sent to a function, the function will still pop the expected number of arguments from the stack. Potentially, a variable number of arguments c...
The product does not adequately filter user-controlled input for special elements with control implications.
The product does not provide its users with the ability to update or patch its firmware to address any vulnerabilities or weaknesses that may be present.
The product generates an error message that includes sensitive information about its environment, users, or associated data.
The product implements a Security Token mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. However, the Se...
The product generates and uses a predictable initialization Vector (IV) with Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) Mode, which causes algorithms to be susceptible to dictionary ...
The product uses a scheme that generates numbers or identifiers that are more predictable than required.
The product uses a cryptographic primitive that uses an Initialization Vector (IV), but the product does not generate IVs that are sufficiently unpredictable or ...
The product uses a CAPTCHA challenge, but the challenge can be guessed or automatically recognized by a non-human actor.
During runtime, the hardware allows for test or debug logic (feature) to be activated, which allows for changing the state of the hardware. This feature can alter the ...
System configuration protection may be bypassed during debug mode.
A race condition in the hardware logic results in undermining security guarantees of the system.
The hardware logic for error handling and security checks can incorrectly forward data before the security check is complete.
A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer ...
The product contains functionality that is not documented, not part of the specification, and not accessible through an interface or command sequence that is obvious t...
The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor.
Aliased or mirrored memory regions in hardware designs may have inconsistent read/write permissions enforced by the hardware. A possible result is that an untrusted ag...
The product uses memory-mapped I/O registers that act as an interface to hardware functionality from software, but there is improper access control to those registers.
The product conducts a secure-boot process that transfers bootloader code from Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) into Volatile Memory (VM), but it does not have sufficient acc...
The product uses a fabric bridge for transactions between two Intellectual Property (IP) blocks, but the bridge does not properly perform the expected privilege, ident...
The product defines an IOCTL that uses METHOD_NEITHER for I/O, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates the addresses that are provided.
The product does not follow certain coding rules for development, which can lead to resultant weaknesses or increase the severity of the associated vulnerabilities.
When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.
The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
The product creates a search index of private or sensitive documents, but it does not properly limit index access to actors who are authorized to see the original info...
The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.
The product does not check or incorrectly checks the revocation status of a certificate, which may cause it to use a certificate that has been compromised.
The product attempts to drop privileges but does not check or incorrectly checks to see if the drop succeeded.
The product does not properly anticipate or handle exceptional conditions that rarely occur during normal operation of the product.
The product does not properly restrict reading from or writing to dynamically-identified variables.
The product does not properly restrict reading from or writing to dynamically-managed code resources such as variables, objects, classes, attributes, functions, or exe...
The PHP application receives input from an upstream component, but it does not restrict or incorrectly restricts the input before its usage in "require," "include," or...
The product constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralize...
The product does not properly limit the number or frequency of interactions that it has with an actor, such as the number of incoming requests.
The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not restrict or incorrectly restricts the input before it is used as an identifier for a resource th...
The product prepares a structured message for communication with another component, but encoding or escaping of the data is either missing or done incorrectly. As a re...
The product establishes a communication channel with an endpoint and receives a message from that endpoint, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the message was no...
The Android application exports a component for use by other applications, but does not properly restrict which applications can launch the component or access the dat...
Faulty finite state machines (FSMs) in the hardware logic allow an attacker to put the system in an undefined state, to cause a denial of service (DoS) or gain privile...
The product does not follow, or incorrectly follows, the chain of trust for a certificate back to a trusted root certificate, resulting in incorrect trust of any resou...
The product does not properly handle special paths that may identify the data or resource fork of a file on the HFS+ file system.
The device is missing or incorrectly implements circuitry or sensors that detect and mitigate the skipping of security-critical CPU instructions when they occur.
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles a file name that identifies a "virtual" resource that is not directly specified within the directory that is associa...
A hardware device, or the firmware running on it, is missing or has incorrect protection features to maintain goals of security primiti...
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles a compressed input with a very high compression ratio that produces a large output.
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when a particular structural element is not completely specified.
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when two or more structural elements should be consistent, but are not.
True random number generators (TRNG) generally have a limited source of entropy and therefore can fail or block.
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to access resources or functionality as specified by their permissions. This may...
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to perform an operation, leading to resultant weaknesses.
The product parses a formatted message or structure, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles a length field that is inconsistent with the actual length of the as...
The product allows address regions to overlap, which can result in the bypassing of intended memory protection.
The product does not properly handle when the expected number of parameters, fields, or arguments is not provided in input, or if those parameters are undefined.
The product does not properly handle unexpected physical or environmental conditions that occur naturally or are artificially induced.
The hardware logic does not effectively handle when single-event upsets (SEUs) occur.
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles input that is not syntactically well-formed with respect to the associated specification.
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when a particular parameter, field, or argument name is not defined or supported by the product.
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when a value is not defined or supported for the associated parameter, field, or argument name.
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when a particular element is not the expected type, e.g. it expects a digit (0-9) but is provided with a letter (A-Z).
The product does not properly handle when the expected number of values for parameters, fields, or arguments is not provided in input, or if those values are undefined.
The product does not properly prevent access to, or detect usage of, alternate data streams (ADS).
The product constructs pathnames from user input, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles a pathname containing a Windows device name such as AUX or CON. This ty...
The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process th...
An interaction error occurs when two entities have correct behavior when running independently of each other, but when they are integrated as components in a larger sy...
The Network On Chip (NoC) does not isolate or incorrectly isolates its on-chip-fabric and internal resources such that they are shared between trusted and untrusted ag...
The System-On-a-Chip (SoC) does not properly isolate shared resources between trusted and untrusted agents.
The product does not properly compartmentalize or isolate functionality, processes, or resources that require different privilege levels, rights, or permissions.
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but ...
Register lock bit protection disables changes to system configuration once the bit is set. Some of the protected registers or lock bits become programmable after power...
The product does not properly acquire or release a lock on a resource, leading to unexpected resource state changes and behaviors.
Trace data collected from several sources on the System-on-Chip (SoC) is stored in unprotected locations or transported to untrusted ag...
The product does not ensure or incorrectly ensures that structured messages or data are well-formed and that certain security properties are met before being read from...
The product constructs a string for a command to executed by a separate component in another control sphere, but it does not properly delimit the intended arguments, o...
The product uses CRLF (carriage return line feeds) as a special element, e.g. to separate lines or records, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes CRLF ...
The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes code syntax before using the input in a dynamic evaluation...
The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes code syntax before inserting the input into an executable ...
The web application improperly neutralizes user-controlled input for executable script disguised with URI encodings.
The product correctly neutralizes certain special elements, but it improperly neutralizes equivalent special elements.
The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes web scripting syntax in HTTP headers that can be used by web browser components that can process raw headers...
The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.
The product generates a web page, but does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input that could be interpreted as a server-side include (SSI) d...
The product constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or ...
The product constructs all or part of a command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes spe...
The product uses a template engine to insert or process externally-influenced input, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements or syntax t...
The product constructs all or part of an expression language (EL) statement in a framework such as a Java Server Page (JSP) using externally-influenced input from an u...
The product constructs all or part of an LDAP query using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes...
The product constructs all or part of an OS command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes...
The product constructs all or part of an SQL command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralize...
The product assigns the wrong ownership, or does not properly verify the ownership, of an object or resource.
The product is designed with access restricted to certain information, but it does not sufficiently protect against an unauthorized actor with physical access to these...
The product does not preserve permissions or incorrectly preserves permissions when copying, restoring, or sharing objects, which can cause them to have less restricti...
The product uses a trusted lock bit for restricting access to registers, address regions, or other resources, but the product does not prevent the value of the lock bi...
The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.
The device is susceptible to electromagnetic fault injection attacks, causing device internal information to be compromised or security mechanisms to be bypassed.
Untrusted agents can disable alerts about signal conditions exceeding limits or the response mechanism that handles such alerts.
The product does not sufficiently protect all possible paths that a user can take to access restricted functionality or resources.
A hardware device is missing or has inadequate protection features to prevent overheating.
The product stores, transfers, or shares a resource that contains sensitive information, but it does not properly remove that information before the product makes the ...
The product does not lock or does not correctly lock a resource when the product must have exclusive access to the resource.
The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use.
The product establishes a communication channel to (or from) an endpoint for privileged or protected operations, but it does not properly ensure that it is communicati...
The product does not implement sufficient measures to prevent multiple failed authentication attempts within a short time frame, making it more susceptible to brute fo...
The product constructs the name of a file or other resource using input from an upstream component, but it does not restrict or incorrectly restricts the resulting name.
The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer.
The product operates in an environment in which power is a limited resource that cannot be automatically replenished, but the product does not properly restrict the am...
The System-On-A-Chip (SoC) implements a Security Token mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. ...
The product provides software-controllable device functionality for capabilities such as power and clock management, but it does not properly limit functional...
The hardware design control register "sticky bits" or write-once bit fields are improperly implemented, such that they can be reprogrammed by software.
The product does not properly provide a capability for the product administrator to remove sensitive data at the time the product is decommissioned. A scrubbing capab...
The bus controller enables bits in the fabric end-point to allow responder devices to control transactions on the fabric.
The product utilizes multiple threads or processes to allow temporary access to a shared resource that can only be exclusive to one process at a time, but it does not ...
The bridge incorrectly translates security attributes from either trusted to untrusted or from untrusted to trusted when converting from one fabric protocol to another.
The product does not use, or incorrectly uses, an input validation framework that is provided by the source language or an independent library.
A certificate expiration is not validated or is incorrectly validated, so trust may be assigned to certificates that have been abandoned due to age.
The product communicates with a host that provides a certificate, but the product does not properly ensure that the certificate is actually associated with that host.
The product does not validate or incorrectly validates the integrity check values or "checksums" of a message. This may prevent it from detecting if the data has been ...
The product does not verify, or incorrectly verifies, the cryptographic signature for data.
The Android application uses a Broadcast Receiver that receives an Intent but does not properly verify that the Intent came from an authorized source.
The product establishes a communication channel to handle an incoming request that has been initiated by an actor, but it does not properly verify that the request is ...
The product does not implement or incorrectly implements wear leveling operations in limited-write non-volatile memories.
The hardware product does not properly clear sensitive information from built-in registers when the user of the hardware block changes.
The product receives input from an upstream component that specifies multiple attributes, properties, or fields that are to be initialized or updated in an object, but...
The product receives input from an upstream component that specifies attributes that are to be initialized or updated in an object, but it does not properly control mo...
The product does not implement or incorrectly implements one or more security-relevant checks as specified by the design of a standardized algorithm, protocol, or tech...
The product performs a power save/restore operation, but it does not ensure that the integrity of the configuration state is maintained and/or ...
The product stores or transmits sensitive data using an encryption scheme that is theoretically sound, but is not strong enough for the level of protection required.
The device includes chicken bits or undocumented features that can create entry points for unauthorized actors.
The product does not properly "clean up" and remove temporary or supporting resources after they have been used.
The product does not properly determine which state it is in, causing it to assume it is in state X when in fact it is in state Y, causing it to perform incorrect oper...
The product implements a protection mechanism that relies on a list of inputs (or properties of inputs) that are not allowed by policy or otherwise require other actio...
A product acts as an intermediary or monitor between two or more endpoints, but it does not have a complete model of an endpoint's features, behaviors, or state, poten...
The implementation of the product is not consistent with the design as described within the relevant documentation.
The product acts as an intermediary HTTP agent (such as a proxy or firewall) in the data flow between two entities such as a client and server, but i...
The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts operations within the boundaries of a resource that is accessed using an index or pointer, such as memory or files.
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check. This allows ...
The product performs multiple related behaviors, but the behaviors are performed in the wrong order in ways which may produce resultant weaknesses.
The product allows an entity to perform a legitimate but expensive operation before authentication or authorization has taken place.
The product performs a calculation that generates incorrect or unintended results that are later used in security-critical decisions or resource management.
The product's comparison logic is performed over a series of steps rather than across the entire string in one operation. If there is a comparison logic failure on one...
The product does not properly return control flow to the proper location after it has completed a task or detected an unusual condition.
The product implements a conversion mechanism to map certain bus-transaction signals to security identifiers. However, if the conversion is incorrectly implemented, un...
The product implements a decoding mechanism to decode certain bus-transaction signals to security identifiers. If the decoding is implemented incorrectly, then untrust...
During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.
While it is executing, the product sets the permissions of an object in a way that violates the intended permissions that have been specified by the user.
The product assigns an owner to a resource, but the owner is outside of the intended control sphere.
The product parses numeric input assuming base 10 (decimal) values, but it does not account for inputs that use a different base number (radix).
The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.
A product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.
The product does not properly transfer a resource/behavior to another sphere, or improperly imports a resource/behavior from another sphere, in a manner that provides ...
The logic level used to set a system to a secure state relies on a fuse being unblown. An attacker can set the system to an insecure state merely by blowing the fuse.
The product does not correctly convert an object, resource, or structure from one type to a different type.
The product uses a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) but does not correctly manage seeds.
The product does not conform to the API requirements for a function call that requires extra privileges. This could allow attackers to gain privileges by causing the f...
The product does not properly manage a user within its environment.
The product creates a communication channel to initiate an outgoing request to an actor, but it does not correctly specify the intended destination for that actor.
An algorithm in a product has an inefficient worst-case computational complexity that may be detrimental to system performance and can be triggered by an attacker, typ...
The product performs CPU computations using algorithms that are not as efficient as they could be for the needs of the developer, i.e., the computati...
The processor does not properly clear microarchitectural state after incorrect microcode assists or speculative execution, resulting in transient execution.
The product does not record, or improperly records, security-relevant information that leads to an incorrect decision or hampers later analysis.
The product uses a mechanism that automatically optimizes code, e.g. to improve a characteristic such as performance, but the optimizations can have an unintended side...
The product, by default, initializes an internal variable with an insecure or less secure value than is possible.
A product defines a set of insecure permissions that are inherited by objects that are created by the program.
A product inherits a set of insecure permissions for an object, e.g. when copying from an archive file, without user awareness or involvement.
The System-on-Chip (SoC) implements a Security Identifier mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entit...
The product stores sensitive information without properly limiting read or write access by unauthorized actors.
Creating and using insecure temporary files can leave application and system data vulnerable to attack.
The product inserts sensitive information into debugging code, which could expose this information if the debugging code is not disabled in production.
Information written to log files can be of a sensitive nature and give valuable guidance to an attacker or expose sensitive user information.
The code does not sufficiently manage its control flow during execution, creating conditions in which the control flow can be modified in unexpected ways.
The product does not sufficiently monitor or control transmitted network traffic volume, so that an actor can cause the product to transmit more traffic than should be...
The product uses an algorithm or scheme that produces insufficient entropy, leaving patterns or clusters of values that are more likely to occur than others.
The lack of entropy available for, or used by, a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) can be a stability and security threat.
The product implements access controls via a policy or other feature with the intention to disable or restrict accesses (reads and/or writes) to assets in a system fro...
The product defines a large address region protected from modification by the same register lock control bit. This results in a conflict between the functional require...
The product has a protection mechanism that is too difficult or inconvenient to use, encouraging non-malicious users to disable or bypass the mechanism, whether by acc...
The product's resource pool is not large enough to handle peak demand, which allows an attacker to prevent others from accessing the resource by using a (relatively) l...
According to WASC, "Insufficient Session Expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session IDs for authorization."
The product does not contain sufficient technical or engineering documentation (whether on paper or in electronic form) that contains descriptions of...
The user interface provides a warning to a user regarding dangerous or sensitive operations, but the warning is not noticeable enough to warrant attention.
The product does not sufficiently verify the origin or authenticity of data, in a way that causes it to accept invalid data.
The product displays information or identifiers to a user, but the display mechanism does not make it easy for the user to distinguish between visually similar or iden...
The product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.
The product uses physical debug or test interfaces with support for multiple access levels, but it assigns the wrong debug access level to an internal ...
Product A handles inputs or steps differently than Product B, which causes A to perform incorrect actions based on its perception of B's state.
A process is invoked with sensitive command-line arguments, environment variables, or other elements that can be seen by other processes on the operating system.
The J2EE application directly manages connections, instead of using the container's connection management facilities.
The J2EE application directly uses sockets instead of using framework method calls.
Thread management in a Web application is forbidden in some circumstances and is always highly error prone.
The product stores a non-serializable object as an HttpSession attribute, which can hurt reliability.
When the J2EE container attempts to write unserializable objects to disk there is no guarantee that the process will complete successfully.
When an application exposes a remote interface for an entity bean, it might also expose methods that get or set the bean's data. These methods could be leveraged to re...
The J2EE application is configured to use an insufficient session ID length.
The default error page of a web application should not display sensitive information about the product.
The J2EE application stores a plaintext password in a configuration file.
If elevated access rights are assigned to EJB methods, then an attacker can take advantage of the permissions to exploit the product.
The product performs a key exchange with an actor without verifying the identity of that actor.
The product uses security features in a way that prevents the product's administrator from tailoring security settings to reflect the environment in which the product ...
The elevated privilege level required to perform operations such as chroot() should be dropped immediately after the operation is performed.
The product contains code that is designed to disrupt the legitimate operation of the product (or its environment) when a certain time passes, or when a certain logica...
The product misinterprets an input, whether from an attacker or another product, in a security-relevant fashion.
Missing an ability to patch ROM code may leave a System or System-on-Chip (SoC) in a vulnerable state.
The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.
The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
The product does not check the revocation status of a certificate after its initial revocation check, which can cause the product to perform privileged actions even af...
The product implements an authentication technique, but it skips a step that weakens the technique.
The product does not implement a required step in a cryptographic algorithm, resulting in weaker encryption than advertised by the algorithm.
The product does not encrypt sensitive or critical information before storage or transmission.
A missing immutable root of trust in the hardware results in the ability to bypass secure boot or execute untrusted or adversarial boot code.
A product does not check to see if a lock is present before performing sensitive operations on a resource.
The product uses a WebSocket, but it does not properly verify that the source of data or communication is valid.
Information stored in hardware may be recovered by an attacker with the capability to capture and analyze images of the integrated circuit using techniques such as sca...
The firewall in an on-chip fabric protects the main addressed region, but it does not protect any mirrored memory or memory-mapped-IO (MMIO) regions.
The lack of protections on alternate paths to access control-protected assets (such as unprotected shadow registers and other external ...
The product does not properly maintain a reference to a resource that has been allocated, which prevents the resource from being reclaimed.
The product does not properly maintain references to a file descriptor or handle, which prevents that file descriptor/handle from being reclaimed.
The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory.
The product does not release a resource after its effective lifetime has ended, i.e., after the resource is no longer needed.
The product encounters an error but does not provide a status code or return value to indicate that an error has occurred.
The product implements a security identifier mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. A transact...
The product relies on one source of data, preventing the ability to detect if an adversary has compromised a data source.
The product does not use a standardized method for handling errors throughout the code, which might introduce inconsistent error handling and resultant weaknesses.
The product uses a transmission protocol that does not include a mechanism for verifying the integrity of the data during transmission, such as a checksum.
On-chip fabrics or buses either do not support or are not configured to support privilege separation or other security features, such as access control.
The product uses OpenSSL and trusts or uses a certificate without using the SSL_get_verify_result() function to ensure that the certificate satisfies all necessary sec...
The device does not write-protect the parametric data values for sensors that scale the sensor value, allowing untrusted software to manipulate the apparent result and...
The product does not properly protect an assumed-immutable element from being modified by an attacker.
When multiple sockets are allowed to bind to the same port, other services on that port may be stolen or spoofed.
The UI has multiple interpretations of user input but does not prompt the user when it selects the less secure interpretation.
The product locks a critical resource more times than intended, leading to an unexpected state in the system.
The register contents used for attestation or measurement reporting data to verify boot flow are modifiable by an adversary.
Allowing a .NET application to run at potentially escalated levels of access to the underlying operating and file systems can be dangerous and result in various forms ...
The product does not exit or otherwise modify its operation when security-relevant errors occur during initialization, such as when a configuration file has a format e...
Hardware structures shared across execution contexts (e.g., caches and branch predictors) can violate the expected architecture isolation between contexts.
When the product encounters an error condition or failure, its design requires it to fall back to a state that is less secure than other options that are available, su...
The product does not perform access checks on a resource every time the resource is accessed by an entity, which can create resultant weaknesses if that entity's right...
The product does not have a mechanism in place for managing password aging.
The product records security-relevant information according to an alternate name of the affected entity, instead of the canonical name.
The product's behaviors indicate important differences that may be observed by unauthorized actors in a way that reveals (1) its internal state or decision process, or...
The product operates in an environment in which its existence or specific identity should not be known, but it behaves differently than other products with equivalent ...
The product behaves differently or sends different responses under different circumstances in a way that is observable to an unauthorized actor, which exposes security...
The product performs multiple behaviors that are combined to produce a single result, but the individual behaviors are observable separately in a way that allows attac...
The product provides different responses to incoming requests in a way that reveals internal state information to an unauthorized actor outside of the intended control...
Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information a...
The product does not record or display information that would be important for identifying the source or nature of an attack, or determining if an action is safe.
The chip does not implement or does not correctly perform access control to check whether users are authorized to access internal registers and test modes through the ...
The product uses, accesses, or otherwise operates on a resource after that resource has been expired, released, or revoked.
The product does not properly verify that the source of data or communication is valid.
The product contains an account lockout protection mechanism, but the mechanism is too restrictive and can be triggered too easily, which allows attackers to deny serv...
The product supports password aging, but the expiration period is too long.
The product stores a password in a configuration file that might be accessible to actors who do not know the password.
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize "../" sequences that can reso...
The product uses a cross-domain policy file that includes domains that should not be trusted.
Storing a password in plaintext may result in a system compromise.
The product's hardware-enforced access control for a particular resource improperly accounts for privilege discrepancies between control and write policies.
The product uses an obsolete encoding mechanism to implement access controls.
An exact value or random number can be precisely predicted by observing previous values.
A number or object is predictable based on observations that the attacker can make about the state of the system or network, such as time, process ID, etc.
A Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) is initialized from a predictable seed, such as the process ID or system time.
The product's random number generator produces a series of values which, when observed, can be used to infer a relatively small range of possibilities for the next val...
Two distinct privileges, roles, capabilities, or rights can be combined in a way that allows an entity to perform unsafe actions that would not be allowed without that...
The product does not properly manage privileges while it is switching between different contexts that have different privileges or spheres of control.
A particular privilege, role, capability, or right can be used to perform unsafe actions that were not intended, even when it is assigned to the correct entity.
The product does not drop privileges before passing control of a resource to an actor that does not have those privileges.
The developer builds a security-critical protection mechanism into the software, but the processor optimizes the execution of the program such that the mechanism is re...
The product's user interface does not warn the user before undertaking an unsafe action on behalf of that user. This makes it easier for attackers to trick users into ...
The product does not use or incorrectly uses a protection mechanism that provides sufficient defense against directed attacks against the product.
The product opens an alternate channel to communicate with an authorized user, but the channel is accessible to other actors.
The product checks the status of a file or directory before accessing it, which produces a race condition in which the file can be replaced with a link before the acce...
A write-once register in hardware design is programmable by an untrusted software component earlier than the trusted software component, resulting in a race condition ...
If two threads of execution use a resource simultaneously, there exists the possibility that resources may be used while invalid, in turn making the state of execution...
Simple authentication protocols are subject to reflection attacks if a malicious user can use the target machine to impersonate a trusted user.
A protection mechanism relies exclusively, or to a large extent, on the evaluation of a single condition or the integrity of a single object or entity in order to make...
The product contains a component that cannot be updated or patched in order to remove vulnerabilities or significant bugs.
The product relies on the existence or values of cookies when performing security-critical operations, but it does not properly ensure that the setting is valid for th...
The product uses a protection mechanism that relies on the existence or values of a cookie, but it does not properly ensure that the cookie is valid for the associated...
The product makes invalid assumptions about how protocol data or memory is organized at a lower level, resulting in unintended program behavior.
The product allows a file to be uploaded, but it relies on the file name or extension of the file to determine the appropriate behaviors. This could be used by attacke...
The product is built from multiple separate components, but it uses a component that is not sufficiently trusted to meet expectations for security, reliability, update...
The product uses an IP address for authentication.
The product uses obfuscation or encryption of inputs that should not be mutable by an external actor, but the product does not use integrity checks to detect if those ...
The product performs reverse DNS resolution on an IP address to obtain the hostname and make a security decision, but it does not properly ensure that the IP address i...
The product uses a protection mechanism whose strength depends heavily on its obscurity, such that knowledge of its algorithms or key data is sufficient to defeat the ...
The product uses a protection mechanism that relies on the existence or values of an input, but the input can be modified by an untrusted actor in a way that bypasses ...
Confidential information stored in memory circuits is readable or recoverable after being cleared or erased.
A function can return a pointer to memory that is outside of the buffer that the pointer is expected to reference.
A function or operation returns an incorrect return value or status code that does not indicate an error, but causes the product to modify its behavior based on the in...
Nonces should be used for the present occasion and only once.
A Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) uses the same seed each time the product is initialized.
Security-version number in hardware is mutable, resulting in the ability to downgrade (roll-back) the boot firmware to vulnerable code versions.
The product uses a register lock bit protection mechanism, but it does not ensure that the lock bit prevents modification of system registers or controls that perform ...
A protocol or its implementation supports interaction between multiple actors and allows those actors to negotiate which algorithm should be used as a protection mecha...
The product identifies an error condition and creates its own diagnostic or error messages that contain sensitive information.
The product uses a cookie to store sensitive information, but the cookie is not marked with the HttpOnly flag.
The product releases a resource such as memory or a file so that it can be made available for reuse, but it does not clear or "zeroize" the information contained in th...
The product performs a power or debug state transition, but it does not clear sensitive information that should no longer be accessible due to changes to information a...
Access to security-sensitive information stored in fuses is not limited during debug.
Specific combinations of processor instructions lead to undesirable behavior such as locking the processor until a hard reset performed.
The web server receives a URL or similar request from an upstream component and retrieves the contents of this URL, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the reques...
Authenticating a user, or otherwise establishing a new user session, without invalidating any existing session identifier gives an attacker the opportunity to steal au...
The product uses a signal handler that introduces a race condition.
The product defines a signal handler that calls a non-reentrant function.
A Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) uses a relatively small seed space, which makes it more susceptible to brute force attacks.
The number of possible random values is smaller than needed by the product, making it more susceptible to brute force attacks.
The product collects personally identifiable information about a human user or the user's activities, but the product accesses this information using other resources b...
Using Hibernate to execute a dynamic SQL statement built with user-controlled input can allow an attacker to modify the statement's meaning or to execute arbitrary SQL...
A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter ...
The product stores sensitive data under the FTP server root with insufficient access control, which might make it accessible to untrusted parties.
The product stores sensitive information in a file system or device that does not have built-in access control.
The storage of passwords in a recoverable format makes them subject to password reuse attacks by malicious users. In fact, it should be noted that recoverable encrypte...
A constant symbolic reference to an object is used, even though the reference can resolve to a different object over time.
The System-on-Chip (SoC) does not have unique, immutable identifiers for each of its components.
The product makes resources available to untrusted parties when those resources are only intended to be accessed by the product.
A trapdoor is a hidden piece of code that responds to a special input, allowing its user access to resources without passing through the normal security enforcement me...
The product truncates the display, recording, or processing of security-relevant information in a way that can obscure the source or nature of an attack.
The product mixes trusted and untrusted data in the same data structure or structured message.
Security based on event locations are insecure and can be spoofed.
The server contains a protection mechanism that assumes that any URI that is accessed using HTTP GET will not cause a state change to the associated resource. This mig...
The user interface does not correctly enable or configure a security feature, but the interface provides feedback that causes the user to believe that the feature is i...
An unauthorized agent can inject errors into a redundant block to deprive the system of redundancy or put the system in a degraded operating mode.
[PLANNED FOR DEPRECATION. SEE MAINTENANCE NOTES AND CONSIDER CWE-252, CWE-248, OR CWE-1069.] Ignoring exceptions and other error conditions may allow an attacker to in...
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, ev...
The behavior of this function is undefined unless its control parameter is set to a specific value.
The product does not properly check when a function or operation returns a value that is legitimate for the function, but is not expected by the product.
A UI function for a security feature appears to be supported and gives feedback to the user that suggests that it is supported, but the underlying functionality is not...
The product receives a request, message, or directive from an upstream component, but the product does not sufficiently preserve the original source of the request bef...
The product uses a more complex mechanism than necessary, which could lead to resultant weaknesses when the mechanism is not correctly understood, modeled, configured,...
The product protects a primary channel, but it does not use the same level of protection for an alternate channel.
The product uses a primary channel for administration or restricted functionality, but it does not properly protect the channel.
Login pages do not use adequate measures to protect the user name and password while they are in transit from the client to the server.
The product does not properly verify the source of a message in the Windows Messaging System while running at elevated privileges, creating an alternate channel throug...
The product properly checks for the existence of a lock, but the lock can be externally controlled or influenced by an actor that is outside of the intended sphere of ...
The product allows the attacker to upload or transfer files of dangerous types that can be automatically processed within the product's environment.
An ActiveX control is intended for restricted use, but it has been marked as safe-for-scripting.
The product does not properly synchronize shared data, such as static variables across threads, which can lead to undefined behavior and unpredictable data changes.
The product searches for critical resources using an externally-supplied search path that can point to resources that are not under the product's direct control.
The product does not properly verify that a critical resource is owned by the proper entity.
When setting a new password for a user, the product does not require knowledge of the original password, or using another form of authentication.
A web application accepts a user-controlled input that specifies a link to an external site, and uses that link in a Redirect. This simplifies phishing attacks.
Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code.
The product uses a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm or protocol.
To fulfill the need for a cryptographic primitive, the product implements a cryptographic algorithm using a non-standard, unproven, or disallowed/non-compliant cryptog...
The product uses a cryptographic key or password past its expiration date, which diminishes its safety significantly by increasing the timing window for cracking attac...
The product calls a non-reentrant function in a concurrent context in which a competing code sequence (e.g. thread or signal handler) may have an opportunity to call t...
A client/server product performs authentication within client code but not in server code, allowing server-side authentication to be bypassed via a modified client tha...
The product uses a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) in a security context, but the PRNG's algorithm is not cryptographically strong.
The product uses default credentials (such as passwords or cryptographic keys) for potentially critical functionality.
The product uses a default cryptographic key for potentially critical functionality.
The product uses default passwords for potentially critical functionality.
The product uses external input with reflection to select which classes or code to use, but it does not sufficiently prevent the input from selecting improper classes ...
The code uses a function that has inconsistent implementations across operating systems and versions.
The web application uses the HTTP GET method to process a request and includes sensitive information in the query string of that request.
The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to exter...
The use of a hard-coded cryptographic key significantly increases the possibility that encrypted data may be recovered.
The product contains a hard-coded password, which it uses for its own inbound authentication or for outbound communication to external components.
The Android application uses an implicit intent for transmitting sensitive data to other applications.
The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not account for byte ordering (e.g. big-endian and little-endian) when processing the input, causing...
The product uses a name or reference to access a resource, but the name/reference resolves to a resource that is outside of the intended control sphere.
The product uses insufficiently random numbers or values in a security context that depends on unpredictable numbers.
The product uses a constant value, name, or reference, but this value can (or should) vary across different environments.
The product has two different sources of the same data or information, but it uses the source that has less support for verification, is less trusted, or is less resis...
The product uses low-level functionality that is explicitly prohibited by the framework or specification under which the product is supposed to operate.
The product uses multiple resources that can have the same identifier, in a context in which unique identifiers are required.
The product defines policy namespaces and makes authorization decisions based on the assumption that a URL is canonical. This can allow a non-canonical URL to bypass t...
The product generates a hash for a password, but it uses a scheme that does not provide a sufficient level of computational effort that would make password cracking at...
The use of password systems as the primary means of authentication may be subject to several flaws or shortcomings, each reducing the effectiveness of the mechanism.
The web application uses persistent cookies, but the cookies contain sensitive information.
The product invokes a potentially dangerous function that could introduce a vulnerability if it is used incorrectly, but the function can also be used safely.
The device uses an algorithm that is predictable and generates a pseudo-random number.
The product uses a function, library, or third party component that has been explicitly prohibited, whether by the developer or the customer.
The product uses the RSA algorithm but does not incorporate Optimal Asymmetric Encryption Padding (OAEP), which might weaken the encryption.
The use of single-factor authentication can lead to unnecessary risk of compromise when compared with the benefits of a dual-factor authentication scheme.
The product uses weak credentials (such as a default key or hard-coded password) that can be calculated, derived, reused, or guessed by an attacker.
The product uses an algorithm that produces a digest (output value) that does not meet security expectations for a hash function that allows an adversary to reasonably...
The web application produces links to untrusted external sites outside of its sphere of control, but it does not properly prevent the external site from modifying sec...
The user interface (UI) does not properly represent critical information to the user, allowing the information - or its source - to be obscured or spoofed. This is oft...
The referer field in HTTP requests can be easily modified and, as such, is not a valid means of message integrity checking.
The product violates well-established principles for secure design.
The product uses an authentication mechanism to restrict access to specific users or identities, but the mechanism does not sufficiently prove that the claimed identit...
Obscuring a password with a trivial encoding does not protect the password.
The product contains a mechanism for users to recover or change their passwords without knowing the original password, but the mechanism is weak.
The product does not require that users should have strong passwords, which makes it easier for attackers to compromise user accounts.
The product does not properly neutralize special elements that are used in XML, allowing attackers to modify the syntax, content, or commands of the XML before it is p...
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