CWE Weakness Categories

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 constructs all or part of an SQL command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended SQ…

The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

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 the data safely and correctly.

The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. This may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations tha…

The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.

The web application does not, or cannot, sufficiently verify whether a request was intentionally provided by the user who sent the request, which could have originated from an unauthorized actor.

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 the product does not properly neutralize special ele…

The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within…

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 neutralizes special elements that could modify the syntax or b…

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 special elements that could modify the intended OS …

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 incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could …

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.

The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor.

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 properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer.

The product allows the upload or transfer of dangerous file types that are automatically processed within its environment.

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 special elements that could modify the intended command…

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.

The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.

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 to a function).

The product performs a calculation that can produce an integer overflow or wraparound when the logic assumes that the resulting value will always be larger than the original value. This occurs when an integer value is i…

The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.

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 request is being sent to the expected destination.

The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.

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 was allocated using a routine such as malloc().

The product contains a concurrent code sequence that requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence operating …

The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.

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 does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.

The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.

During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.

The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key.

The product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.

The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

The web application accepts a user-controlled input that specifies a link to an external site, and uses that link in a redirect.

The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

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 similar functions.

The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.

The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output.

The product uses a fixed or controlled search path to find resources, but one or more locations in that path can be under the control of unintended actors.

The product exposes a resource to the wrong control sphere, providing unintended actors with inappropriate access to the resource.

The product writes sensitive information to a log file.

A product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

The product transmits sensitive or security-critical data in cleartext in a communication channel that can be sniffed by unauthorized actors.

The product stores sensitive information in cleartext within a resource that might be accessible to another control sphere.

The product allocates or initializes a resource such as a pointer, object, or variable using one type, but it later accesses that resource using a type that is incompatible with the original type.

The product uses or accesses a resource that has not been initialized.

The product calls free() twice on the same memory address.

The product behaves differently or sends different responses under different circumstances in a way that is observable to an unauthorized actor.

The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use.

The product contains an iteration or loop with an exit condition that cannot be reached, i.e., an infinite loop.

The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary.

The product does not properly acquire or release a lock on a resource, leading to unexpected resource state changes and behaviors.

The product uses a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm or protocol.

The product does not verify, or incorrectly verifies, the cryptographic signature for data.

The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check.

This attack-focused weakness is caused by incorrectly implemented authentication schemes that are subject to spoofing attacks.

The product does not handle or incorrectly handles an exceptional condition.

The product does not check or incorrectly checks for unusual or exceptional conditions that are not expected to occur frequently during day to day operation of the product.

The product does not use or incorrectly uses a protection mechanism that provides sufficient defense against directed attacks against the product.

The product requires authentication, but the product has an alternate path or channel that does not require authentication.

The product does not sufficiently verify the origin or authenticity of data, in a way that causes it to accept invalid data.

The product does not implement sufficient measures to prevent multiple failed authentication attempts within a short time frame.

The product uses untrusted input when calculating or using an array index, but the product does not validate or incorrectly validates the index to ensure the index references a valid position within the array.

The product does not properly verify that the source of data or communication is valid.

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 generates an error message that includes sensitive information about its environment, users, or associated data.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special characters such as "<", ">", and "&" that could be interpreted as web-scripting elements when they are…

The product does not encrypt sensitive or critical information before storage or transmission.

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 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 modifications of attributes of the object prototype.

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 product makes files or directories accessible to unauthorized actors, even though they should not be.

The product allows user input to control or influence paths or file names that are used in filesystem operations.

The product reads from a buffer using buffer access mechanisms such as indexes or pointers that reference memory locations after the targeted buffer.

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 result, the intended structure of the message is not p…

The product subtracts one value from another, such that the result is less than the minimum allowable integer value, which produces a value that is not equal to the correct result.

The product uses a search path that contains an unquoted element, in which the element contains whitespace or other separators. This can cause the product to access resources in a parent path.

The product uses a regular expression with a worst-case computational complexity that is inefficient and possibly exponential.

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize sequences such as ".." that can resolve to a location that is outside of that dir…

The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack.

The product stores sensitive information without properly limiting read or write access by unauthorized actors.

The web application does not restrict or incorrectly restricts frame objects or UI layers that belong to another application or domain.

The product divides a value by zero.

Authenticating a user, or otherwise establishing a new user session, without invalidating any existing session identifier gives an attacker the opportunity to steal authenticated sessions.

The product constructs a string for a command to be executed by a separate component in another control sphere, but it does not properly delimit the intended arguments, options, or switches within that command string.

The product uses a function that accepts a format string as an argument, but the format string originates from an external source.

The product uses insufficiently random numbers or values in a security context that depends on unpredictable numbers.

The code transmits data to another actor, but a portion of the data includes sensitive information that should not be accessible to that actor.

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 it does not interpret malformed HTTP requests or responses in ways that…

The product does not properly prevent sensitive system-level information from being accessed by unauthorized actors who do not have the same level of access to the underlying system as the product does.

The product does not preserve permissions or incorrectly preserves permissions when copying, restoring, or sharing objects, which can cause them to have less restrictive permissions than intended.

The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource, which might leave the resource in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used.

The product receives input that is expected to specify a quantity (such as size or length), but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the quantity has the required properties.

The product does not release a resource after its effective lifetime has ended, i.e., after the resource is no longer needed.

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 other weaknesses.

The product saves user-provided information into a Comma-Separated Value (CSV) file, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as a command when the file is opened …

The product uses a hard-coded, unchangeable cryptographic key.

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 often a component in phishing attacks.

The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized.

The product initializes or sets a resource with a default that is intended to be changed by the product's installer, administrator, or maintainer, but the default is not secure.

The product imports, requires, or includes executable functionality (such as a library) from a source that is outside of the intended control sphere.

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.

The product uses an externally controlled name or reference that resolves to a resource that is outside of the intended control sphere.

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 an upstream component or sent to a downstream compo…

The product does not correctly convert an object, resource, or structure from one type to a different type.

The product stores a password in plaintext within resources such as memory or files.

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 to the server in question to the same effect as the o…

The web application does not adequately enforce appropriate authorization on all restricted URLs, scripts, or files.

An exception is thrown from a function, but it is not caught.

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.

The product obtains a value from an untrusted source, converts this value to a pointer, and dereferences the resulting pointer.

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 upstream component, but it does not neutralize or inc…

The code uses a variable that has not been initialized, leading to unpredictable or unintended results.

A product calculates or uses an incorrect maximum or minimum value that is 1 more, or 1 less, than the correct value.

The product does not correctly calculate the size to be used when allocating a buffer, which could lead to a buffer overflow.

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 information or (2) do not have the implicit consent…

The product contains a hard-coded password, which it uses for its own inbound authentication or for outbound communication to external components.

The product uses a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) in a security context, but the PRNG's algorithm is not cryptographically strong.

The product does not properly "clean up" and remove temporary or supporting resources after they have been used.

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize '.../...//' (doubled triple dot slash) sequences that can resolve to a location t…

The product reads or writes to a buffer using an index or pointer that references a memory location after the end of the buffer.

The product does not check the return value from a method or function, which can prevent it from detecting unexpected states and conditions.

The product provides an Applications Programming Interface (API) or similar interface for interaction with external actors, but the interface includes a dangerous method or function that is not properly restricted.

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 that can be interpreted as template expressions or ot…

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 sequences from inputs.

The product compares two entities in a security-relevant context, but the comparison is incorrect.

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 modified or corrupted in transmission.

The product allocates memory based on an untrusted, large size value, but it does not ensure that the size is within expected limits, allowing arbitrary amounts of memory to be allocated.

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 cause it to follow unexpected code paths that may l…

The product does not properly anticipate or handle exceptional conditions that rarely occur during normal operation of the product.

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.

The product, when opening a file or directory, does not sufficiently account for when the file is a symbolic link that resolves to a target outside of the intended control sphere. This could allow an attacker to cause t…

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 sphere.

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 about the state of the product, such as whether a par…

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 navigated.

The product receives input that is expected to be of a certain type, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input is actually of the expected type.

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 call (e.g. "eval").

The product is composed of a server that relies on the client to implement a mechanism that is intended to protect the server.

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 action to neutralize before additional processing takes p…

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 it does not properly control which attributes can b…

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 processed by an end system.

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 technique.

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 as "/abs/path" that can resolve to a location that i…

The web application does not sufficiently verify inputs that are assumed to be immutable but are actually externally controllable, such as hidden form fields.

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.

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.

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 attacks infeasible or expensive.

When converting from one data type to another, such as long to integer, data can be omitted or translated in a way that produces unexpected values. If the resulting values are used in a sensitive context, then dangerous…

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 resource available to unauthorized actors.

The product performs a calculation that generates incorrect or unintended results that are later used in security-critical decisions or resource management.

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 resolve to a location that is outside of that directory.

The product does not initialize a critical resource.

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 performs a calculation to determine how much memory to allocate, but an integer overflow can occur that causes less memory to be allocated than expected, leading to a buffer overflow.

The product constructs a log message from external input, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements when the message is written to a log file.

The product uses default credentials (such as passwords or cryptographic keys) for potentially critical functionality.

The product attempts to return a memory resource to the system, but it calls the wrong release function or calls the appropriate release function incorrectly.

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, typically using crafted manipulations that ensure that …

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 unintended control over that resource.

The product performs pointer arithmetic on a valid pointer, but it uses an offset that can point outside of the intended range of valid memory locations for the resulting pointer.

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 associated data.

Creating and using insecure temporary files can leave application and system data vulnerable to attack.

The product uses XML documents and allows their structure to be defined with a Document Type Definition (DTD), but it does not properly control the number of recursive definitions of entities.

The product uses a web-client protection mechanism such as a Content Security Policy (CSP) or cross-domain policy file, but the policy includes untrusted domains with which the web client is allowed to communicate.

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 from untrusted agents. However, implemented access cont…

The product places sensitive information into files or directories that are accessible to actors who are allowed to have access to the files, but not to the sensitive information.

The product does not properly restrict reading from or writing to dynamically-managed code resources such as variables, objects, classes, attributes, functions, or executable instructions or statements.

The product receives data from an HTTP agent/component (e.g., web server, proxy, browser, etc.), but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes CR and LF characters before the data is included in outgoing HTTP he…

The requirements for the product dictate the use of an established authentication algorithm, but the implementation of the algorithm is incorrect.

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 determine the original input (preimage attack), fin…

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 before forwarding the request to an external actor that…

The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.

The product receives input that is expected to be well-formed - i.e., to comply with a certain syntax - but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input complies with the syntax.

The product dereferences a pointer that contains a location for memory that was previously valid, but is no longer valid.

When setting a new password for a user, the product does not require knowledge of the original password, or using another form of authentication.

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 data it contains.

The product uses an authentication mechanism to restrict access to specific users or identities, but the mechanism does not sufficiently prove that the claimed identity is correct.

The product is released with debugging code still enabled or active.

The product stores sensitive data in memory that is not locked, or that has been incorrectly locked, which might cause the memory to be written to swap files on disk by the virtual memory manager. This can make the data…

The product uses, accesses, or otherwise operates on a resource after that resource has been expired, released, or revoked.

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 the protection mechanism.

The product performs an iteration or loop without sufficiently limiting the number of times that the loop is executed.

The product does not properly account for differences in case sensitivity when accessing or determining the properties of a resource, leading to inconsistent results.

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 to the product's users or administrators.

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 the associated user.

A product defines a set of insecure permissions that are inherited by objects that are created by the program.

The web application uses an HTTP method to process a request, but the request includes sensitive information in the query string.

One or more system settings or configuration elements can be externally controlled by a user.

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize '\..\filename' (leading backslash dot dot) sequences that can resolve to a locati…

The product does not properly compartmentalize or isolate functionality, processes, or resources that require different privilege levels, rights, or permissions.

The product utilizes multiple threads, processes, components, or systems to allow temporary access to a shared resource that can only be exclusive to one process at a time, but it does not properly synchronize these act…

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 function to be called incorrectly.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as escape, meta, or control character sequences when they are sent …

The product does not handle or incorrectly handles a compressed input with a very high compression ratio that produces a large output.

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 encrypted passwords provide no significant benefit over plai…

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 properly limit the number or frequency of interactions that it has with an actor, such as the number of incoming requests.

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 or code.

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 special elements that could modify the intended LDA…

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 that may be outside the intended sphere of control.

The Secure attribute for sensitive cookies in HTTPS sessions is not set.

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 creates a temporary file in a directory whose permissions allow unintended actors to determine the file's existence or otherwise access that file.

The product inappropriately exposes a directory listing with an index of all the resources located inside of the directory.

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 neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes web scripting syntax in HTTP headers that can be used by web browser components that can process raw headers, such as Flash.

The product uses a sequential operation to read or write a buffer, but it uses an incorrect length value that causes it to access memory that is outside of the bounds of the buffer.

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 communicating with the correct endpoint.

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 coming from the expected origin.

Any condition where the attacker has the ability to write an arbitrary value to an arbitrary location, often as the result of a buffer overflow.

The product receives input that is expected to specify an index, position, or offset into an indexable resource such as a buffer or file, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the specified index/positi…

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 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 resistant to attack.

The code uses a cache that contains sensitive information, but the cache can be read by an actor outside of the intended control sphere.

The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controlled input for alternate script syntax.

The product does not terminate or incorrectly terminates a string or array with a null character or equivalent terminator.

The product supports a session in which more than one behavior must be performed by an actor, but it does not properly ensure that the actor performs the behaviors in the required sequence.

The product generates a query intended to access or manipulate data in a data store such as a database, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that can modify the intended logic of the qu…

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 way that allows the channel to be accessed or influ…

Truncation errors occur when a primitive is cast to a primitive of a smaller size and data is lost in the conversion.

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 to invest equivalent work or otherwise prove authori…

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 uses a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) but does not correctly manage seeds.

Covert timing channels convey information by modulating some aspect of system behavior over time, so that the program receiving the information can observe system behavior and infer protected information.

Obscuring a password with a trivial encoding does not protect the password.

The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to perform an operation, leading to resultant weaknesses.

The product uses a scheme that generates numbers or identifiers that are more predictable than required.

The product does not maintain or incorrectly maintains control over a resource throughout its lifetime of creation, use, and release.

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.

A feature, API, or function does not perform according to its specification.

The product implements a protection mechanism that relies on a list of inputs (or properties of inputs) that are explicitly allowed by policy because the inputs are assumed to be safe, but the list is too permissive - t…

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.

The product uses a cookie to store sensitive information, but the cookie is not marked with the HttpOnly flag.

The product uses default passwords for potentially critical functionality.

The product specifies a regular expression in a way that causes data to be improperly matched or compared.

The product attempts to drop privileges but does not check or incorrectly checks to see if the drop succeeded.

The authentication scheme or implementation uses key data elements that are assumed to be immutable, but can be controlled or modified by the attacker.

The product protects a primary channel, but it does not use the same level of protection for an alternate channel.

The product does not adequately filter user-controlled input for special elements with control implications.

The product stores sensitive information in cleartext in memory.

The product does not properly protect an assumed-immutable element from being modified by an attacker.

The product receives data from an upstream component, but does not completely filter special elements before sending it to a downstream component.

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 establishes a communication channel with an endpoint and receives a message from that endpoint, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the message was not modified during transmission.

When trying to keep information confidential, an attacker can often infer some of the information by using statistics.

The product implements an authentication technique, but it skips a step that weakens the technique.

The product does not check for an error after calling a function that can return with a NULL pointer if the function fails, which leads to a resultant NULL pointer dereference.

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 performs multiple related behaviors, but the behaviors are performed in the wrong order in ways that may produce resultant weaknesses.

The product implements an IOCTL with functionality that should be restricted, but it does not properly enforce access control for the IOCTL.

This entry has been deprecated. It originally came from PLOVER, which sometimes defined "other" and "miscellaneous" categories in order to satisfy exhaustiveness requirements for taxonomies. Within the context of CWE, t…

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 elevated privilege level required to perform operations such as chroot() should be dropped immediately after the operation is performed.

The product does not properly manage a user within its environment.

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 possible names for that resource or actor.

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 inflicting damage to their system.

The product does not sufficiently protect all possible paths that a user can take to access restricted functionality or resources.

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, such as selecting the weakest encryption algorithm or …

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 stores sensitive information in cleartext in a file, or on disk.

Nonces should be used for the present occasion and only once.

Source code on a web server or repository often contains sensitive information and should generally not be accessible to users.

The product misinterprets an input, whether from an attacker or another product, in a security-relevant fashion.

The product's intended functionality exposes information to certain actors in accordance with the developer's security policy, but this information is regarded as sensitive according to the intended security policies of…

The product mixes trusted and untrusted data in the same data structure or structured message.

The product does not properly check inputs that are used for loop conditions, potentially leading to a denial of service or other consequences because of excessive looping.

The product uses a WebSocket, but it does not properly verify that the source of data or communication is valid.

The product does not properly handle when an input contains Unicode encoding.

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 the resource before the product performs a critical st…

The product assigns the wrong ownership, or does not properly verify the ownership, of an object or resource.

The web application does not use an appropriate caching policy that specifies the extent to which each web page and associated form fields should be cached.

The product receives a complex input with multiple elements or fields that must be consistent with each other, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input is actually consistent.

The product receives an input value that is used as a resource identifier or other type of reference, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input is equivalent to a potentially-unsafe value.

The product does not properly manage privileges while it is switching between different contexts that have different privileges or spheres of control.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes NUL characters or null bytes when they are sent to a downstream component.

The product is vulnerable to file system contents disclosure through path equivalence. Path equivalence involves the use of special characters in file and directory names. The associated manipulations are intended to ge…

The product does not sufficiently enforce boundaries between the states of different sessions, causing data to be provided to, or used by, the wrong session.

The SameSite attribute for sensitive cookies is not set, or an insecure value is used.

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize multiple internal "../" sequences that can resolve to a location that is outside …

The code does not function according to its published specifications, potentially leading to incorrect usage.

A protocol or its implementation supports interaction between multiple actors and allows those actors to negotiate which algorithm should be used as a protection mechanism such as encryption or authentication, but it do…

Executing commands or loading libraries from an untrusted source or in an untrusted environment can cause an application to execute malicious commands (and payloads) on behalf of an attacker.

The product prevents direct access to a resource containing sensitive information, but it does not sufficiently limit access to metadata that is derived from the original, sensitive information.

[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 induce unexpected behavior unnoticed.

The product makes resources available to untrusted parties when those resources are only intended to be accessed by the product.

The product incorrectly checks a return value from a function, which prevents it from detecting errors or exceptional conditions.

The product stores a password in a configuration file that might be accessible to actors who do not know the password.

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 performs a key exchange with an actor without verifying the identity of that actor.

If a web server does not fully parse requested URLs before it examines them for authorization, it may be possible for an attacker to bypass authorization protection.

When a security-critical event occurs, the product either does not record the event or omits important details about the event when logging it.

The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes "javascript:" or other URIs from dangerous attributes within tags, such as onmouseover, onload, onerror, or style.

The product contains multiple threads or executable segments that are waiting for each other to release a necessary lock, resulting in deadlock.

The product uses a handler for a custom URL scheme, but it does not properly restrict which actors can invoke the handler using the scheme.

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 resource, such as a library, configuration file, or …

The product fails to adequately prevent the revealing of unnecessary and potentially sensitive system information within debugging messages.

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.

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 combination.

The product relies on third-party components that are not actively supported or maintained by the original developer or a trusted proxy for the original developer.

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 is truly associated with the hostname.

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 undefined.

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.

This weakness has been deprecated because it covered redundant concepts already described in CWE-287.

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 that omits the authentication check.

The product uses an API function, data structure, or other entity in a way that relies on properties that are not always guaranteed to hold for that entity.

The product uses an expression in which operator precedence causes incorrect logic to be used.

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 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 physical debug/test interface.

The device does not contain sufficient protection mechanisms to prevent physical side channels from exposing sensitive information due to patterns in physically observable phenomena such as variations in power consumpti…

The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes delimiters.

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 uses a signal handler that introduces a race condition.

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) large number of requests for resources.

The product, by default, initializes an internal variable with an insecure or less secure value than is possible.

The product violates well-established principles for secure design.

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 properly handle when the expected number of values for parameters, fields, or arguments is not provided in input, or if those values are undefined.

Using realloc() to resize buffers that store sensitive information can leave the sensitive information exposed to attack, because it is not removed from memory.

The product does not properly verify that a critical resource is owned by the proper entity.

The product uses a cryptographic key or password past its expiration date, which diminishes its safety significantly by increasing the timing window for cracking attacks against that key.

The product does not clean up its state or incorrectly cleans up its state when an exception is thrown, leading to unexpected state or control flow.

The product calls free() on a pointer to memory that was not allocated using associated heap allocation functions such as malloc(), calloc(), or realloc().

The product assigns an owner to a resource, but the owner is outside of the intended control sphere.

The product logs too much information, making log files hard to process and possibly hindering recovery efforts or forensic analysis after an attack.

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize "/dir/../filename" sequences that can resolve to a location that is outside of th…

The product detects a specific error, but takes no actions to handle the error.

Catching NullPointerException should not be used as an alternative to programmatic checks to prevent dereferencing a null pointer.

The behavior of this function is undefined unless its control parameter is set to a specific value.

The product uses an environment variable to store unencrypted sensitive information.

The product does not mask passwords during entry, increasing the potential for attackers to observe and capture passwords.

The web application improperly neutralizes user-controlled input for executable script disguised with URI encodings.

The Android application uses an implicit intent for transmitting sensitive data to other applications.

To fulfill the need for a cryptographic primitive, the product implements a cryptographic algorithm using a non-standard, unproven, or disallowed/non-compliant cryptographic implementation.

The product assigns the address 0.0.0.0 for a database server, a cloud service/instance, or any computing resource that communicates remotely.

The product uses a default cryptographic key for potentially critical functionality.

The product uses a signed primitive and performs a cast to an unsigned primitive, which can produce an unexpected value if the value of the signed primitive can not be represented using an unsigned primitive.

The product inserts sensitive information into debugging code, which could expose this information if the debugging code is not disabled in production.

The product does not follow, or incorrectly follows, the chain of trust for a certificate back to a trusted root certificate.

The product stores security-critical state information about its users, or the product itself, in a location that is accessible to unauthorized actors.

The web application sends a redirect to another location, but instead of exiting, it executes additional code.

The product uses a reference count to manage a resource, but it does not update or incorrectly updates the reference count.

The product manages a group of objects or resources and performs a separate memory allocation for each object, but it does not properly limit the total amount of memory that is consumed by all of the combined objects.

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 allowed for that actor.

The product uses a one-way cryptographic hash against an input that should not be reversible, such as a password, but the product does not also use a salt as part of the input.

The product records password hashes in a data store, receives a hash of a password from a client, and compares the supplied hash to the hash obtained from the data store.

The product requires that an actor should only be able to perform an action once, or to have only one unique action, but the product does not enforce or improperly enforces this restriction.

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. However, the Security Tokens are improperly protecte…

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 areas.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as control elements or syntactic markers when they are sent to a do…

The product opens a file or directory, but it does not properly prevent the name from being associated with a junction or mount point to a destination that is outside of the intended control sphere.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as wildcards or matching symbols when they are sent to a downstream…

The product validates input before it is canonicalized, which prevents the product from detecting data that becomes invalid after the canonicalization step.

The product does not lock or does not correctly lock a resource when the product must have exclusive access to the resource.

The code uses deprecated or obsolete functions, which suggests that the code has not been actively reviewed or maintained.

The product uses a CAPTCHA challenge, but the challenge can be guessed or automatically recognized by a non-human actor.

The product utilizes a shared resource in a concurrent manner, but it does not correctly synchronize access to the resource.

The product has a loop body or loop condition that contains a control element that directly or indirectly consumes platform resources, e.g. messaging, sessions, locks, or file descriptors.

The number of possible random values is smaller than needed by the product, making it more susceptible to brute force attacks.

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.

The product does not properly distinguish between different types of elements in a way that leads to insecure behavior.

The UI performs the wrong action with respect to the user's request.

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 security requirements.

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 uses external input to dynamically construct an XPath expression used to retrieve data from an XML database, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes that input. This allows an attacker to contr…

The product utilizes a shared resource in a concurrent manner but does not attempt to synchronize access to the resource.

The product allows address regions to overlap, which can result in the bypassing of intended memory protection.

The product does not properly encode or decode the data, resulting in unexpected values.

A Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) is initialized from a predictable seed, such as the process ID or system time.

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.

The code uses a function that has inconsistent implementations across operating systems and versions.

The product uses or specifies an encoding when generating output to a downstream component, but the specified encoding is not the same as the encoding that is expected by the downstream component.

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 security-critical properties of the window.opener object…

The device includes chicken bits or undocumented features that can create entry points for unauthorized actors.

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 asset, providing unintended access to the asset from untrusted debug…

The product does not properly filter, remove, quote, or otherwise manage the invalid use of special elements in user-controlled input, which could cause adverse effect on its behavior and integrity.

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 resolve to a location that is outside of that directory.

The product does not drop privileges before passing control of a resource to an actor that does not have those privileges.

The product uses an authentication algorithm that uses a single factor (e.g., a password) in a security context that should require more than one factor.

The product uses a primary channel for administration or restricted functionality, but it does not properly protect the channel.

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 information.

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 attackers to cause the file to be misclassified and process…

The product attempts to return a memory resource to the system, but it calls a release function that is not compatible with the function that was originally used to allocate that resource.

The product includes web functionality (such as a web widget) from another domain, which causes it to operate within the domain of the product, potentially granting total access and control of the product to the untrust…

The product performs a comparison between entities that must consider multiple factors or characteristics of each entity, but the comparison does not include one or more of these factors.

The code performs a comparison between two entities, but the comparison examines the wrong factors or characteristics of the entities, which can lead to incorrect results and resultant weaknesses.

The hardware does not fully clear security-sensitive values, such as keys and intermediate values in cryptographic operations, when debug mode is entered.

The product attempts to close or release a resource or handle more than once, without any successful open between the close operations.

The product performs a comparison that only examines a portion of a factor before determining whether there is a match, such as a substring, leading to resultant weaknesses.

The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when a parameter, field, or argument name is specified, but the associated value is missing, i.e. it is empty, blank, or null.

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 uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize 'dir\..\..\filename' (multiple internal backslash dot dot) sequences that can res…

The product generates and uses a predictable initialization Vector (IV) with Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) Mode, which causes algorithms to be susceptible to dictionary attacks when they are encrypted under the same key.

A backup file is stored in a directory or archive that is made accessible to unauthorized actors.

The product uses hard-coded constants instead of symbolic names for security-critical values, which increases the likelihood of mistakes during code maintenance or security policy change.

The product uses a regular expression that does not sufficiently restrict the set of allowed values.

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 mechanism.

The product correctly neutralizes certain special elements, but it improperly neutralizes equivalent special elements.

The product receives data from an upstream component, but does not filter or incorrectly filters special elements before sending it to a downstream component.

The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes invalid characters or byte sequences in the middle of tag names, URI schemes, and other identifiers.

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 lack of protections on alternate paths to access control-protected assets (such as unprotected shadow registers and other external facing unguarded interfaces) allows an attacker to bypass existing protections to th…

Using an empty string as a password is insecure.

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 access is performed, causing the product to access the w…

The product encounters an error but does not provide a status code or return value to indicate that an error has occurred.

A function or operation returns an incorrect return value or status code that does not indicate the true result of execution, causing the product to modify its behavior based on the incorrect result.

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 commands.

The product, when opening a file or directory, does not sufficiently handle when the file is a Windows shortcut (.LNK) whose target is outside of the intended control sphere. This could allow an attacker to cause the pr…

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 might allow attackers to bypass intended access restric…

The product uses a one-way cryptographic hash against an input that should not be reversible, such as a password, but the product uses a predictable salt as part of the input.

The product releases a resource that is still intended to be used by itself or another actor.

The product or the administrator places a user into an incorrect group.

The product accepts XML from an untrusted source but does not validate the XML against the proper schema.

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 access control or other protections for the Volatile Me…

A missing immutable root of trust in the hardware results in the ability to bypass secure boot or execute untrusted or adversarial boot code.

Sensitive memory is cleared according to the source code, but compiler optimizations leave the memory untouched when it is not read from again, aka "dead store removal."

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as expression or command delimiters when they are sent to a downstr…

The product does not properly handle when all or part of an input has been URL encoded.

The product calls a function that can never be guaranteed to work safely.

The product uses an IP address for authentication.

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 operations in a security-relevant manner.

The product contains dead code, which can never be executed.

The PHP application uses an old method for processing uploaded files by referencing the four global variables that are set for each file (e.g. $varname, $varname_size, $varname_name, $varname_type). These variables coul…

The product uses multiple resources that can have the same identifier, in a context in which unique identifiers are required.

The developer builds a security-critical protection mechanism into the software, but the compiler optimizes the program such that the mechanism is removed or modified.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special characters that could be interpreted as web-scripting elements when they are sent to an error page.

The product stores sensitive information in a file system or device that does not have built-in access control.

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.

The product reads from a buffer using buffer access mechanisms such as indexes or pointers that reference memory locations prior to the targeted buffer.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as parameter or argument delimiters when they are sent to a downstr…

A certificate expiration is not validated or is incorrectly validated.

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 stores sensitive information in cleartext in a cookie.

The product opens an alternate channel to communicate with an authorized user, but the channel is accessible to other actors.

The product does not initialize critical variables, which causes the execution environment to use unexpected values.

The web application uses persistent cookies, but the cookies contain sensitive information.

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 invokes a potentially dangerous function that could introduce a vulnerability if it is used incorrectly, but the function can also be used safely.

The product reads or writes to a buffer using an index or pointer that references a memory location prior to the beginning of the buffer.

The product does not properly restrict reading from or writing to dynamically-identified variables.

The product does not use, or incorrectly uses, an input validation framework that is provided by the source language or an independent library.

The device uses an algorithm that is predictable and generates a pseudo-random number.

The product validates input before applying protection mechanisms that modify the input, which could allow an attacker to bypass the validation via dangerous inputs that only arise after the modification.

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.

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 product stores sensitive information in cleartext within the GUI.

The lack of entropy available for, or used by, a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) can be a stability and security threat.

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 to modify or misrepresent the product's behavior du…

A function returns the address of a stack variable, which will cause unintended program behavior, typically in the form of a crash.

The web application does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes scripting elements within attributes of HTML IMG tags, such as the src attribute.

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) directive.

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 effect that might violate an intended security assu…

The System-On-a-Chip (SoC) does not properly isolate shared resources between trusted and untrusted agents.

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 changes to important hardware system configuration.

The product implements a Security Token mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. However, the Security Tokens generated in the system are incorrect.

Specific combinations of processor instructions lead to undesirable behavior such as locking the processor until a hard reset performed.

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 contains a component that cannot be updated or patched in order to remove vulnerabilities or significant bugs.

The product does not properly handle unexpected physical or environmental conditions that occur naturally or are artificially induced.

Integer coercion refers to a set of flaws pertaining to the type casting, extension, or truncation of primitive data types.

The product stores sensitive data under the web document root with insufficient access control, which might make it accessible to untrusted parties.

This entry has been deprecated because of name confusion and an accidental combination of multiple weaknesses. Most of its content has been transferred to CWE-785.

The product does not have a mechanism in place for managing password aging.

The product accepts input in the form of a slash absolute path ('/absolute/pathname/here') without appropriate validation, which can allow an attacker to traverse the file system to unintended locations or access arbitr…

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 descriptors.

The product allows an entity to perform a legitimate but expensive operation before authentication or authorization has taken place.

A function can return a pointer to memory that is outside of the buffer that the pointer is expected to reference.

The product accidentally uses the wrong operator, which changes the logic in security-relevant ways.

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 controlled by that actor.

The product does not follow or incorrectly follows the specifications as required by the implementation language, environment, framework, protocol, or platform.

The product does not properly handle null bytes or NUL characters when passing data between different representations or components.

The product calls a function, procedure, or routine with arguments that are not correctly specified, leading to always-incorrect behavior and resultant weaknesses.

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 service to legitimate users by causing their accounts to…

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 the authorization.

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 inputs have been modified.

The product, when opening a file or directory, does not sufficiently handle when the name is associated with a hard link to a target that is outside of the intended control sphere. This could allow an attacker to cause …

The product uses a denylist-based protection mechanism to defend against XSS attacks, but the denylist is incomplete, allowing XSS variants to succeed.

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 does not follow certain coding rules for development, which can lead to resultant weaknesses or increase the severity of the associated vulnerabilities.

The product checks a value to ensure that it is less than or equal to a maximum, but it does not also verify that the value is greater than or equal to the minimum.

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 removed or modified.

The code performs a comparison such as an equality test between two float (floating point) values, but it uses comparison operators that do not account for the possibility of loss of precision.

The code has a synchronous call to a remote resource, but there is no timeout for the call, or the timeout is set to infinite.

The product or code does not isolate system-dependent functionality into separate standalone modules.

The product has an attack surface whose quantitative measurement exceeds a desirable maximum.

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 privileges on the victim's system.

The product has or supports multiple distributed components or sub-systems that are each required to keep their own local copy of shared data - such as state or cache - but the product does not ensure that all local cop…

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 of these steps, the operation may be vulnerable to …

Security-version number in hardware is mutable, resulting in the ability to downgrade (roll-back) the boot firmware to vulnerable code versions.

An integer value is specified to be shifted by a negative amount or an amount greater than or equal to the number of bits contained in the value causing an unexpected or indeterminate result.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as input terminators when they are sent to a downstream component.

Quotes injected into a product can be used to compromise a system. As data are parsed, an injected/absent/duplicate/malformed use of quotes may cause the process to take unexpected actions.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as substitution characters when they are sent to a downstream compo…

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as whitespace when they are sent to a downstream component.

The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles when an additional unexpected special element is provided.

The product performs an operation on a number that causes it to be sign extended when it is transformed into a larger data type. When the original number is negative, this can produce unexpected values that lead to resu…

The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when more values are provided than expected.

The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when two or more structural elements should be consistent, but are not.

An exact value or random number can be precisely predicted by observing previous values.

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 control.

A product does not check to see if a lock is present before performing sensitive operations on a resource.

The product does not properly synchronize shared data, such as static variables across threads, which can lead to undefined behavior and unpredictable data changes.

In a language where the user can influence the name of a variable at runtime, if the variable names are not controlled, an attacker can read or write to arbitrary variables, or access arbitrary functions.

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 is being used. This introduces resultant weaknesses …

The product calls a function, procedure, or routine, but the caller specifies an argument that is the wrong data type, which may lead to resultant weaknesses.

The product does not properly maintain a reference to a resource that has been allocated, which prevents the resource from being reclaimed.

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 user.

The product receives data from an upstream component, but does not completely filter one or more instances of special elements before sending it to a downstream component.

The product receives data from an upstream component, but does not filter all instances of a special element before sending it to a downstream component.

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 identical glyphs (homoglyphs), which may cause the user …

The implementation of the product is not consistent with the design as described within the relevant documentation.

The code is structured in a way that relies too much on using or setting global variables throughout various points in the code, instead of preserving the associated information in a narrower, more local context.

The source code contains comments that do not accurately describe or explain aspects of the portion of the code with which the comment is associated.

The product provides software-controllable device functionality for capabilities such as power and clock management, but it does not properly limit functionality that can lead to modification of hardware memory or regis…

The product is built from multiple separate components, but it uses a component that is not sufficiently trusted to meet expectations for security, reliability, updateability, and maintainability.

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 receives input from an upstream component, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles when an expected special element is missing.

The product uses an unsigned primitive and performs a cast to a signed primitive, which can produce an unexpected value if the value of the unsigned primitive can not be represented using a signed primitive.

This entry has been deprecated, as it was not effective as a weakness and was structured more like a category. In addition, the name is inappropriate, since the "container" term is widely understood by developers in dif…

The product does not handle or incorrectly handles inputs that are related to complex structures.

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, potentially causing the product to perform incorrect acti…

In C and C++, one may often accidentally refer to the wrong memory due to the semantics of when math operations are implicitly scaled.

A PHP application does not properly protect against the modification of variables from external sources, such as query parameters or cookies. This can expose the application to numerous weaknesses that would not exist o…

A class has a cloneable() method that is not declared final, which allows an object to be created without calling the constructor. This can cause the object to be in an unexpected state.

This entry has been deprecated because its abstraction was too low-level. See CWE-532.

Certain conditions, such as network failure, will cause a server error message to be displayed.

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 typically leads to denial of service or an information…

The product calls a function, procedure, or routine, but the caller specifies the arguments in an incorrect order, leading to resultant weaknesses.

The product defines a public method that reads or modifies a private variable.

The product does not release a file descriptor or handle after its effective lifetime has ended, i.e., after the file descriptor/handle is no longer needed.

The product uses a regular expression to perform neutralization, but the regular expression is not anchored and may allow malicious or malformed data to slip through.

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 does not properly detect or handle inputs that have bee…

The product performs a data query with a large number of joins and sub-queries on a large data table.

The product uses a cryptographic primitive that uses an Initialization Vector (IV), but the product does not generate IVs that are sufficiently unpredictable or unique according to the expected cryptographic requirement…

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 bit from being modified after it has been set.

System configuration protection may be bypassed during debug mode.

The device does not contain or contains incorrectly implemented circuitry or sensors to detect and mitigate voltage and clock glitches and protect sensitive information or software contained on the device.

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 reference token.

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 agent is blocked from accessing a memory region but is…

The hardware logic for error handling and security checks can incorrectly forward data before the security check is complete.

Performing cryptographic operations without ensuring that the supporting inputs are ready to supply valid data may compromise the cryptographic result.

Wrap around errors occur whenever a value is incremented past the maximum value for its type and therefore "wraps around" to a very small, negative, or undefined value.

Immutable data, such as a first-stage bootloader, device identifiers, and "write-once" configuration settings are stored in writable memory that can be re-programmed or updated in the field.

The register contents used for attestation or measurement reporting data to verify boot flow are modifiable by an adversary.

Hardware structures shared across execution contexts (e.g., caches and branch predictors) can violate the expected architecture isolation between contexts.

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 has a dependency on a third-party component that contains one or more known vulnerabilities.

The product does not properly handle when a leading character or sequence ("leader") is missing or malformed, or if multiple leaders are used when only one should be allowed.