Vulnerability Mapping:ALLOWEDThis CWE ID could be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities in limited situations requiring careful review
(with careful review of mapping notes)
Abstraction:
ClassClass - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.
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Description
The product uses a common specification or format that is shared
between multiple components or entities, but the components have
different parsers that can interpret the same input in different,
security-relevant ways.
Common Consequences
This table specifies different individual consequences
associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is
violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an
adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about
how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other
consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be
exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to
achieve a different impact.
Impact
Details
Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Hide Activities; Alter Execution Logic; Unexpected State; Varies by Context
Scope: Integrity, Authorization, Access Control
If an input is analyzed and/or processed by multiple components
in security-related situations - such as analyzing headers or
comparing identifiers - then a parser differential could lead to
incorrect security decisions.
Potential Mitigations
Phase(s)
Mitigation
Architecture and Design; Implementation
If possible, ensure that the same parser is used by each component.
Effectiveness: High
Note:
This might be difficult to do if the affected
product has some components or entities that are not directly under
its control, such as with firewalls managing traffic between diverse
systems that might have a variety of libraries across different
operating systems, programming languages, etc.
Relationships
This table shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this
weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOf and give insight to
similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition,
relationships such as PeerOf, Overlaps, and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user
may want to explore.
Relevant to the view "Complete Weakness Hierarchy" (View-1000)
Nature
Type
ID
Name
ChildOf
Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.
Base - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.
The different Modes of Introduction provide information
about how and when this
weakness may be introduced. The Phase identifies a point in the life cycle at which
introduction
may occur, while the Note provides a typical scenario related to introduction during the
given
phase.
Phase(s)
Note
Requirements; Architecture and Design
The product's components might be required to follow a
specification that is incomplete in ways that do not sufficiently
cover security expectations, and/or allows for implementation-specific
variations that may be security-critical.
Applicable Platforms
This listing shows possible areas for which the given
weakness could appear. These
may be for specific named Languages, Operating Systems, Architectures, Paradigms,
Technologies,
or a class of such platforms. The platform is listed along with how frequently the given
weakness appears for that instance.
Type
Applicable Platforms
Notes
Languages
Class: Not Language-Specific
(Undetermined Prevalence)
Architectures
Class: Not Architecture-Specific
(Undetermined Prevalence)
Technologies
Class: Not Technology-Specific
(Undetermined Prevalence)
Class: Web Based
(Undetermined Prevalence)
Selected Observed
Examples
Note: this is a curated list of examples for users to understand the variety of ways in which this
weakness can be introduced. It is not a complete list of all CVEs that are related to this CWE entry.
JavaScript-based DOM parser silently accepts certain
malformed end tags such as "</a\nResidue>" due to a parser differential,
possibly preventing the detection of malformed input.
Detection
Methods
Method
Details
Automated Dynamic Analysis
The different product components or entities could be tested
using inputs with a variety of manipulations, such as differences in
capitalization, whitespace, "boundary" tags, etc. The behavior of each
component could be evaluated to see if the inputs are handled
consistently.
Memberships
This MemberOf Relationships table shows additional CWE Categories and Views that
reference this weakness as a member. This information is often useful in understanding where a
weakness fits within the context of external information sources.
Nature
Type
ID
Name
MemberOf
Grouping - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.
(this CWE ID could be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities in limited situations requiring careful review)
Reason
Abstraction
Rationale
This CWE Entry is a Class and might have lower-level children that would be more appropriate
Comments
Examine children of this entry to see if there is a better fit
References
[REF-1575]
Denley Lam, Letitia Li and Anthony Gabrielson. "Parser Weakness Enumeration: Definition and Preliminary Assessment". 2023-10-18.
<https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10305625>.
(URL validated: 2026-10-26)
Description
This table specifies different individual consequences
associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is
violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an
adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about
how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other
consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be
exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to
achieve a different impact.
