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Common Weakness Enumeration

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ID

CWE CATEGORY: DEPRECATED: Pathname Traversal and Equivalence Errors

Category ID: 21
Vulnerability Mapping: PROHIBITED This CWE ID must not be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities
+ Summary
This category has been deprecated. It was originally used for organizing weaknesses involving file names, which enabled access to files outside of a restricted directory (path traversal) or to perform operations on files that would otherwise be restricted (path equivalence). Consider using either the File Handling Issues category (CWE-1219) or the class Use of Incorrectly-Resolved Name or Reference (CWE-706).
+ Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Usage: PROHIBITED

(this CWE ID must not be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)

Reasons: Category, Deprecated

Rationale:

This CWE has been deprecated. It is also a Category. Using categories for mapping has been discouraged since 2019. Categories are informal organizational groupings of weaknesses that can help CWE users with data aggregation, navigation, and browsing. However, they are not weaknesses in themselves.

Comments:

See the summary, which might have suggestions for other CWEs to consider.
+ Content History
+ Submissions
Submission Date Submitter Organization
2006-07-19
(CWE Draft 3, 2006-07-19) 		PLOVER
+ Modifications
Modification Date Modifier Organization
2008-09-08 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings, Type
2008-10-14 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Description
2012-05-11 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Related_Attack_Patterns
2013-02-21 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Potential_Mitigations
2014-02-18 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Potential_Mitigations
2015-12-07 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2017-11-08 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Applicable_Platforms, Description, Potential_Mitigations, Related_Attack_Patterns, Relationships
2019-06-20 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2020-02-24 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Description, Name, Relationships, Type
2021-03-15 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Taxonomy_Mappings
2023-06-29 CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Mapping_Notes
+ Previous Entry Names
Change Date Previous Entry Name
2020-02-24 Pathname Traversal and Equivalence Errors
Page Last Updated: April 03, 2025
 

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