Weakness Base Elements

The software 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 software, 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 product's hardware-based access control check occurs after the asset has been accessed.

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

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

The program 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 incompa...

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

The application is deployed to unauthorized actors with debugging code still enabled or active, which can create unintended entry points or expose sensitive information.

The accidental addition of a data-structure sentinel can cause serious programming logic problems.

The software 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 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 software's architecture contains too many - or too few - horizontal layers.

The software sets a pointer to a specific address other than NULL or 0.

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 o...

A capture-replay flaw exists when the design of the software makes it possible for a malicious user to sniff network traffic and bypass authentication by replaying it ...

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 improperly 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 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.

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

The software 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...

The program 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, leading to a buf...

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

The code contains a function or method whose signature and/or associated inline documentation does not sufficiently describe the callable's inputs, outputs, ...

The code contains a class instance that calls the method or function to delete or destroy itself.

A class contains an unnecessarily large number of children.

A class has an inheritance level that is too high, i.e., it has a large number of parent classes.

A class contains a virtual method, but the method does not have an associated virtual destructor.

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

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

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

The software filters data in a way that causes it to be reduced or "collapsed" into an unsafe value that violates an expected security property.

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 software performs a comparison between two entities, but the entities are of different, incompatible types that cannot be guaranteed to provide correct results whe...

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 resu...

The code is compiled without sufficient warnings enabled, which may prevent the detection of subtle bugs or quality issues.

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.

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...

A covert storage channel transfers information through the setting of bits by one program and the reading of those bits by another. What distinguishes this case from t...

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...

A static code block creates an instance of a class.

The software creates an immutable text string using string concatenation operations.

The software 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.

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

The application 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 w...

If a database cursor is not closed properly, then it could become accessible to other users while retaining the same privileges that were originally assigned, leaving ...

The software is intended to manage data access through a particular data manager component such as a relational or non-SQL database, but it contains code that performs...

The software uses a dedicated, central data manager component as required by design, but it contains code that performs data-access operations that do not use this dat...

The software uses a data element that has an excessively large number of sub-elements with non-primitive data types such as structures or aggregated objects.

The software accesses a data resource through a database without using a connection pooling capability.

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

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

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

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 source code declares a variable in one scope, but the variable is only used within a narrower scope.

The accidental deletion of a data-structure sentinel can cause serious programming logic problems.

The wrong "handler" is assigned to process an object.

The application deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid.

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

The credentials necessary for unlocking a device are shared across multiple parties and may expose sensitive information.

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

The product divides a value by zero.

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 program uses double-checked locking to access a resource without the overhead of explicit synchronization, but the locking is insufficient.

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.

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 vari...

The source code contains a block that does not contain any code, i.e., the block is empty.

An invokable code block contains an exception handling block that does not contain any code, i.e. is empty.

The software contains an empty synchronized block.

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

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

The software contains a data query against an SQL table or view that is configured in a way that does not utilize an index and may cause sequential searches ...

The code is structured in a way that a Halstead complexity measure exceeds a desirable maximum.

The software contains an index range scan for a large data table, but the scan can cover a large number of rows.

The code contains McCabe cyclomatic complexity that exceeds a desirable maximum.

The software performs too many data queries without using efficient data processing functionality such as stored procedures.

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

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 as...

The software initializes a data element using a hard-coded literal that is not a simple integer or static constant element.

The product uses too much self-modifying code.

The code uses too many unconditional branches (such as "goto").

The code contains a callable or other code grouping in which the nesting / branching is too deep.

The product uses a regular expression that either (1) contains an executable component with user-controlled inputs, or (2) allows a user to enable execution by inserti...

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

The software performs an operation at a privilege level that is higher than the minimum level required, which creates new weaknesses or amplifies the consequences of o...

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

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

The chip does not implement or does not correctly check whether users are authorized to access internal registers.

The software provides an Applications Programming Interface (API) or similar interface for interaction with external actors, but the interface includes a dangerous met...

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...

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.

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...

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's intended functionality exposes information to certain actors in accordance with the developer's security policy, but this information is regarded as sens...

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 origi...

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

The application 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...

The software contains an expression that will always evaluate to false.

The software contains an expression that will always evaluate to true.

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

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

The software initializes critical internal variables or data stores using inputs that can be modified by untrusted actors.

The application performs an operation that triggers an external diagnostic or error message that is not directly generated or controlled by the application, such as an...

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

A product's firmware cannot be updated or patched, leaving weaknesses present with no means of repair and the product vulnerable to attack.

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

The software 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 uses a cryptographic primitive that uses an Initialization Vector (IV), but the product does not generate IVs that are sufficiently unpredictable or ...

The software 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 ...

Signals between a hardware IP and the parent system design are incorrectly connected causing security risks.

Software-controllable device functionality such as power and clock management permits unauthorized modification of memory or register bits.

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.

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's physical debug and test interface protection does not block untrusted agents, resulting in unauthorized access to and potentially control of sensitive as...

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

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

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

The software constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutraliz...

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

The software 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 software establishes a communication channel with an endpoint and receives a message from that endpoint, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the message was n...

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 software 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 reso...

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

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

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...

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

The software does not properly handle input in which an inconsistency exists between two or more special characters or reserved words.

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

The application does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to access resources or functionality as specified by their permissions. This...

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

The software 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 a...

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

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

The software 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 hardware logic does not effectively handle when single-event upsets (SEUs) occur.

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

The software 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 software 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 implements a register lock bit protection feature that permits security sensitive controls to modify the protected configuration.

The product incorrectly implements register lock bit protection features such that protected controls can be programmed even after the lock has been set.

The product does not isolate or incorrectly isolates its on-chip-fabric and internal resources such that they are shared between trusted and untrusted agents, creating...

The product does not properly isolate shared resources between trusted and untrusted agents.

The software 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 software 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 un...

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...

Trace data collected from several sources on the System-on-Chip (SoC) is stored in unprotected locations or transported to untrusted ag...

The software 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, ...

The software 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 software uses external input to dynamically construct an XPath expression used to retrieve data from an XML database, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neu...

The software uses external input to dynamically construct an XQuery expression used to retrieve data from an XML database, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly ne...

The software does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes delimiters.

The software receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes code syntax before inserting the input into an executable...

The software properly neutralizes certain special elements, but it improperly neutralizes equivalent special elements.

The software saves user-provided information into a Comma-Separated Value (CSV) file, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could...

The software 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 us...

The software constructs all or part of an expression language (EL) statement in a Java Server Page (JSP) using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, ...

The software constructs all or part of an LDAP query using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralize...

The software constructs all or part of an OS command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralize...

The software constructs all or part of an SQL command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutraliz...

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

The software does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes output that is written to logs.

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 ...

The software does not preserve permissions or incorrectly preserves permissions when copying, restoring, or sharing objects, which can cause them to have less restrict...

The device is susceptible to electromagnetic fault injection attacks, causing device internal information to be compromised or security mechanisms to be bypassed.

The product is missing protections or implements insufficient protections against information leakage through physical channels such as power consumption, electromagne...

Untrusted agents can disable alerts about signal conditions exceeding limits or the response mechanism that handles such alerts.

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 system or application is vulnerable to file system contents disclosure through path equivalence. Path equivalence involves the use of special characters in file an...

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

The software does not implement sufficient measures to prevent multiple failed authentication attempts within in a short time frame, making it more susceptible to brut...

The application 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...

The software operates in an environment in which power is a limited resource that cannot be automatically replenished, but the software does not properly restrict the ...

The software 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 recursiv...

The web application does not restrict or incorrectly restricts frame objects or UI layers that belong to another application or domain, which can lead to user confusio...

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 hardware design control register "sticky bits" or write-once bit fields are improperly implemented, such that they can be reprogrammed by software.

The software 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...

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 bridge incorrectly translates security attributes from either trusted to untrusted or from untrusted to trusted when converting from one fabric protocol to another.

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

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

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 t...

The software 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 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 i...

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...

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 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 inpu...

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 ...

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

The software 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 software receives input from an upstream component that specifies multiple attributes, properties, or fields that are to be initialized or updated in an object, bu...

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 memor...

The software does not implement or incorrectly implements one or more security-relevant checks as specified by the design of a standardized algorithm, protocol, or tec...

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 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 source code uses comment styles or formats that are inconsistent or do not follow expected standards for the product.

The software 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 expecte...

The source code contains whitespace that is inconsistent across the code or does not follow expected standards for the product.

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

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

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

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

The product's design documentation does not adequately describe control flow, data flow, system initialization, relationships between tasks, components, rati...

The document does not fully define all mechanisms that are used to control or influence how product-specific programs are executed.

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

The product's documentation does not adequately define inputs, outputs, or system/software interfaces.

The software 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 ope...

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.

When malformed or abnormal HTTP requests are interpreted by one or more entities in the data flow between the user and the web server, such as a proxy or firewall, the...

The product's code, documentation, or other artifacts do not consistently use the same naming conventions for variables, callables, groups of related callabl...

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.

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

The software validates input before applying protection mechanisms that modify the input, which could allow an attacker to bypass the validation via dangerous inputs t...

The code does not explicitly delimit a block that is intended to contain 2 or more statements, creating a logic error.

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

The software does not correctly calculate the length of strings that can contain wide or multi-byte characters.

The product's debug components contain incorrect chaining or granularity of debug components.

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

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...

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 va...

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.

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

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

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

Hardware description language code incorrectly defines register defaults or hardware IP parameters to insecure values.

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

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

The code uses boxed primitives, which may introduce inefficiencies into performance-critical operations.

The application does not conform to the API requirements for a function call that requires extra privileges. This could allow attackers to gain privileges by causing t...

The software 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 uses a regular expression with an inefficient, possibly exponential worst-case computational complexity that consumes excessive CPU cycles.

The software initializes data using hard-coded values that act as network resource identifiers.

The software initializes or sets a resource with a default that is intended to be changed by the administrator, but the default is not secure.

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

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 written to log files can be of a sensitive nature and give valuable guidance to an attacker or expose sensitive user information.

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 does not sufficiently compartmentalize functionality or processes that require different privilege levels, rights, or permissions.

The documentation does not sufficiently describe the techniques that are used for error handling, exception processing, or similar mechanisms.

The product or code uses machine-dependent functionality, but it does not sufficiently encapsulate or isolate this functionality from the rest of the code.

The software uses an algorithm or scheme that produces insufficient entropy, leaving patterns or clusters of values that are more likely to occur than others.

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 source code uses symbolic constants, but it does not sufficiently place the definitions of these constants into a more centralized or isolated location.

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

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

The product's data removal process does not completely delete all data and potentially sensitive information within hardware components.

The device is missing or incorrectly implements circuitry or sensors to detect and mitigate CPU instruction skips that can be caused by...

The protections on the product's non-volatile memory containing boot code are insufficient to prevent the bypassing of secure boot or the execution of an untrusted, bo...

The software has a protection mechanism that is too difficult or inconvenient to use, encouraging non-malicious users to disable or bypass the mechanism, whether by ac...

The software'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) ...

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

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 source code uses literal constants that may need to change or evolve over time, instead of using symbolic constants.

The software 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 ide...

The software 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 ...

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 co...

The code at one architectural layer invokes code that resides at a deeper layer than the adjacent layer, i.e., the invocation skips at least one layer, and t...

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 code contains a function or method that operates in a multi-threaded environment but owns an unsafe non-final static storable or member d...

A function or method contains too many operations that utilize a data manager or file resource.

A function, method, procedure, etc. contains an excessive amount of code that has been commented out within its body.

The code contains callable control elements that contain an excessively large number of references to other application objects external to the conte...

The software contains a function, subroutine, or method whose signature has an unnecessarily large number of parameters/arguments.

A named-callable or method control element has a signature that supports a variable (variadic) number of parameters or arguments.

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

The software uses a large data table that contains an excessively large number of indices.

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

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

The software contains code that is designed to disrupt the legitimate operation of the software (or its environment) when a certain time passes, or when a certain logi...

The software uses a loop with a control flow condition based on a value that is updated within the body of the loop.

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

A method for a class performs an operation that directly accesses a member element from another class.

The product's architecture mirrors regions without ensuring that their contents always stay in sync.

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

The software 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 software does not return custom error pages to the user, possibly exposing sensitive information.

The code does not have a default case in a switch statement, which might lead to complex logical errors and resultant weaknesses.

The product does not have documentation that represents how it is designed.

A handler is not available or implemented.

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

The software does not initialize a critical resource.

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

The device does not contain or contains improperly implemented circuitry or sensors to detect and mitigate voltage and clock glitches and protect sensitive information...

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

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

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

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

A bridge that is connected to a fabric without security features forwards transactions to the slave without checking the privilege level of the master. Similarly, it ...

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 software contains a serializable data element that does not have an associated serialization method.

The software relies on one source of data, preventing the ability to detect if an adversary has compromised a data source.

The software does not use a standardized method for handling errors throughout the code, which might introduce inconsistent error handling and resultant weaknesses.

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

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

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

The software contains modules in which one module has references that cycle back to itself, i.e., there are circular dependencies.

When multiple sockets are allowed to bind to the same port, other services on that port may be stolen or spoofed.

The software contains a class with inheritance from more than one concrete class.

The UI has multiple interpretations of user input but does not prompt the user when it selects the less secure interpretation.

The software locks a critical resource more times than intended, leading to an unexpected state in the system.

The software unlocks 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.

The software does not exit or otherwise modify its operation when security-relevant errors occur during initialization, such as when a configuration file has a format ...

Non-replicating malicious code only resides on the target system or software that is attacked; it does not attempt to spread to other systems.

The software contains a client with a function or method that contains a large number of data accesses/queries that are sent through a data manager, i.e., does not use...

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

If no mechanism is in place for managing password aging, users will have no incentive to update passwords in a timely manner.

A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit.

The program 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.

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

The software does not maintain equal hashcodes for equal objects.

The software 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 behaves differently or sends different responses under different circumstances in a way that is observable to an unauthorized actor, which exposes security...

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...

A UI function is obsolete and the product does not warn the user.

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

The application 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 program omits a break statement within a switch or similar construct, causing code associated with multiple conditions to execute. This can cause problems when the...

The software receives data from an upstream component, but only accounts for special elements at a specified location, thereby missing remaining special elements that ...

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

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

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

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

The software contains an account lockout protection mechanism, but the mechanism is too restrictive and can be triggered too easily, which allows attackers to deny ser...

A regular expression is overly restrictive, which prevents dangerous values from being detected.

The code has a parent class that contains references to a child class, its methods, or its members.

A parent class contains one or more child classes, but the parent class does not have a virtual destructor method.

The program sends non-cloned mutable data as an argument to a method or function.

Allowing password aging to occur unchecked can result in the possibility of diminished password integrity.

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

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 as...

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

The software uses a storable data element that does not have all of the associated functions or methods that are necessary to support comparison.

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

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.

The product enables components that contain untrusted firmware before memory and fabric access controls have been enabled.

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.

The software'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 va...

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

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 software 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 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 released to market is released in pre-production or manufacturing configuration.

The software'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 same public key is used for signing both debug and production code.

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

The software 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 acc...

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 ...

The code contains a switch statement in which the switched variable can be modified while the switch is still executing, resulting in unexpected behavior.

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...

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 th...

Memory-mapped registers provide access to hardware functionality from software and if not properly secured can result in loss of confidentiality and integrity.

The software uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize sequences such as ".." that ...

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

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 application relies on the existence or values of cookies when performing security-critical operations, but it does not properly ensure that the setting is valid fo...

The software makes invalid assumptions about how protocol data or memory is organized at a lower level, resulting in unintended program behavior.

The code uses a data representation that relies on low-level data representation or constructs that may vary across different processors, physical machines, ...

The software uses obfuscation or encryption of inputs that should not be mutable by an external actor, but the software does not use integrity checks to detect if thos...

Java packages are not inherently closed; therefore, relying on them for code security is not a good practice.

The product uses automatically-generated code that cannot be executed without a specific runtime support component.

The software 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 application 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 bypas...

Replicating malicious code, including viruses and worms, will attempt to attack other systems once it has successfully compromised the target system or software.

The code has a return statement inside a finally block, which will cause any thrown exception in the try block to be discarded.

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

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

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...

Sending non-cloned mutable data as a return value may result in that data being altered or deleted by the calling function.

The product uses a hashing algorithm that produces a hash value that can be used to determine the original input, or to find an input that can produce the same hash, m...

The application uses deployed components from application servers, but it also uses low-level functions/methods for management of resources, instead of the API provide...

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

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 software identifies an error condition and creates its own diagnostic or error messages that contain sensitive information.

The security-sensitive hardware module contains semiconductor defects.

Sensitive information in clear text on the JTAG interface may be examined by an eavesdropper, e.g. by placing a probe device on the int...

When a device releases a resource such as memory or a file for reuse by other entities, information contained in the resource is not fully cleared prior to reuse of th...

Sensitive information may leak as a result of a debug or power state transition when information access restrictions change as a result of the transition.

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 software contains a serializable, storable data element such as a field or member, but the data element contains member elements that are not serializable.

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...

The software defines a function that is used as a handler for more than one signal.

The software uses a signal handler that introduces a race condition.

The software defines a signal handler that contains code sequences that are not asynchronous-safe, i.e., the functionality is not reentrant, or it can be interrupted.

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

The source code contains elements such as source files that do not consistently provide a prologue or header that has been standardized for the project.

A source code file has too many lines of code.

The software collects personally identifiable information about a human user or the user's activities, but the software accesses this information using other resources...

The software 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 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 System-on-Chip (SoC) does not have unique, immutable identifiers for each of its components.

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

The software 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...

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 software appears to contain benign or useful functionality, but it also contains code that is hidden from normal operation that violates the intended security poli...

The application 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.

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.

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

The Servlet does not catch all exceptions, which may reveal sensitive debugging 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 in...

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 loo...

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

The software performs unconditional control transfer (such as a "goto") in code outside of a branching structure such as a switch block.

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

The software does not properly check when a function or operation returns a value that is legitimate for the function, but is not expected by the software.

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...

Security-critical logic is not set to a known value on reset.

During execution of non-reentrant code, the software performs a call that unintentionally produces a nested invocation of the non-reentrant code.

The software attempts to unlock a resource that is not locked.

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

The product does not adequately protect confidential information on the device from being accessed by Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) vendors.

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

Storing a password in plaintext may result in a system compromise.

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 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 re...

The software 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 software allows the attacker to upload or transfer files of dangerous types that can be automatically processed within the product's environment.

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

The application searches for critical resources using an externally-supplied search path that can point to resources that are not under the application's direct control.

The software 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.

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 software 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 ...

This device implements a cryptographic algorithm using a non-standard or unproven cryptographic primitive.

The product uses a non-blocking model that relies on a single threaded process for features such as scalability, but it contains code that can block when it is invo...

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

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 software uses or accesses a file descriptor after it has been closed.

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

The application uses external input with reflection to select which classes or code to use, but it does not sufficiently prevent the input from selecting improper clas...

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

The software contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to exte...

The software 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, causin...

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

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

The product uses a constant value, name, or reference, but this value can (or should) vary across different environments.

The software 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 resi...

The software uses low-level functionality that is explicitly prohibited by the framework or specification under which the software is supposed to operate.

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

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

The software contains a method that accesses an object but does not later invoke the element's associated finalize/destructor method.

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

The program 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 result...

The software 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 st...

The software 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 a...

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 product relies on third-party software components that do not provide equivalent functionality across all desirable platforms.

The application subtracts one pointer from another in order to determine size, but this calculation can be incorrect if the pointers do not exist in the same memory ch...

The program 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 software has multiple functions, methods, procedures, macros, etc. that contain the same code.

The software uses the same control element across multiple architectural layers.

The code contains a callable, block, or other code element in which the same variable is used to control more than one unique task or store more than one ins...

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 software uses or accesses a resource that has not been initialized.

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 deve...

The product uses external input to determine the names of variables into which information is extracted, without verifying that the names of the specified variables ar...

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

The software 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.

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.

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 software 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 ...