CWE-223 Base Draft

Omission of Security-relevant Information

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to capture or present crucial security-related details, such as the origin of a request or the specifics of a security event. Without this…

Definition

What is CWE-223?

This vulnerability occurs when an application fails to capture or present crucial security-related details, such as the origin of a request or the specifics of a security event. Without this information, developers and security teams cannot effectively trace attacks or validate whether an operation is legitimate.

When security-relevant information is omitted, it creates a blind spot in your application's defense. Attackers can exploit this gap to launch attacks without leaving an audit trail, making it nearly impossible to perform forensic analysis, understand the attack vector, or attribute malicious activity. This lack of visibility undermines incident response and allows threats to persist undetected. To prevent this, ensure your application logs and displays key security events with sufficient context. This includes timestamps, source IP addresses, user identifiers, affected resources, and the nature of the action performed. Implementing structured logging and real-time monitoring dashboards turns this data into actionable intelligence, helping your team quickly identify, investigate, and mitigate security incidents.

Auswirkungen in der Praxis

Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-223

CVE-1999-1029

Login attempts are not recorded if the user disconnects before the maximum number of tries.
CVE-2002-1839

Sender's IP address not recorded in outgoing e-mail.
CVE-2000-0542

Failed authentication attempts are not recorded if later attempt succeeds.

Wie Angreifer es ausnutzen

Angreiferpfad Schritt für Schritt

1
This code logs suspicious multiple login attempts.
2
This code only logs failed login attempts when a certain limit is reached. If an attacker knows this limit, they can stop their attack from being discovered by avoiding the limit.
3
This code prints the contents of a file if a user has permission.
4
While the code logs a bad access attempt, it logs the user supplied name for the file, not the canonicalized file name. An attacker can obscure their target by giving the script the name of a link to the file they are attempting to access. Also note this code contains a race condition between the is_link() and readlink() functions (CWE-363).

Verwundbares Codebeispiel

Vulnerable PHP

This code logs suspicious multiple login attempts.

Verwundbar PHP

function login($userName,$password){
  		if(authenticate($userName,$password)){
  			return True;
  		}
  		else{
  			incrementLoginAttempts($userName);
  			if(recentLoginAttempts($userName) > 5){
  				writeLog("Failed login attempt by User: " . $userName . " at " + date('r') );
  			}
  		}
  }

Sicheres Codebeispiel

Secure pseudo

Sicher pseudo

// Validate, sanitize, or use a safe API before reaching the sink.
function handleRequest(input) {
  const safe = validateAndEscape(input);
  return executeWithGuards(safe);
}

What changed: the unsafe sink is replaced (or the input is validated/escaped) so the same payload no longer triggers the weakness.

Präventions-Checkliste

How to prevent CWE-223

Architecture Use safe-by-default frameworks and APIs that prevent the unsafe pattern from being expressible.
Implementation Validate input at trust boundaries; use allowlists, not denylists.
Implementation Apply the principle of least privilege to credentials, file paths, and runtime permissions.
Testing Cover this weakness in CI: SAST rules + targeted unit tests for the data flow.
Operation Monitor logs for the runtime signals listed in the next section.

Erkennungssignale

How to detect CWE-223

SAST High

Führe statische Analyse (SAST) auf der Codebasis aus und suche im Datenfluss nach dem unsicheren Muster.

DAST Moderate

Führe dynamische Application-Security-Tests gegen den Live-Endpoint aus.

Runtime Moderate

Beobachte Runtime-Logs auf ungewöhnliche Exception-Traces, fehlerhafte Eingaben oder Versuche, Autorisierung zu umgehen.

Code review Moderate

Code Review: Markiere jeden neuen Code, der Eingaben von dieser Oberfläche ohne validierte Framework-Helper verarbeitet.

Plexicus Auto-Fix

Plexicus erkennt CWE-223 automatisch und öffnet in unter 60 Sekunden einen Fix-PR.

Codex Remedium scannt jeden Commit, identifiziert genau diese Schwachstelle und liefert einen reviewer-ready Pull Request mit dem Patch. Keine Tickets. Keine Hand-offs.

Demo anfordern Plexicus kostenlos testen

Häufig gestellte Fragen

Frequently asked questions

Was ist CWE-223?

Wie gravierend ist CWE-223?

MITRE hat für diese Schwachstelle keine Exploit-Wahrscheinlichkeit veröffentlicht. Behandle sie als mittlere Auswirkung, bis dein Threat Model anderes belegt.

Welche Sprachen oder Plattformen sind von CWE-223 betroffen?

MITRE hat für diese CWE keine betroffenen Plattformen spezifiziert — sie kann in den meisten Anwendungs-Stacks auftreten.

Wie kann ich CWE-223 verhindern?

Use safe-by-default frameworks, validate untrusted input at trust boundaries, and apply the principle of least privilege. Cover the data-flow signature in CI with SAST.

Wie erkennt und behebt Plexicus CWE-223?

Die SAST-Engine von Plexicus erkennt die Datenfluss-Signatur von CWE-223 bei jedem Commit. Bei einem Treffer öffnet unser Codex-Remedium-Agent einen Fix-PR mit korrigiertem Code, Tests und einer einzeiligen Zusammenfassung für den Reviewer.

Wo erfahre ich mehr über CWE-223?

MITRE veröffentlicht die kanonische Definition unter https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/223.html. Für ergänzende Hinweise kannst du auch die OWASP- und NIST-Dokumentation heranziehen.

Verwandte Schwachstellen

Weaknesses related to CWE-223

CWE-221 Parent

Information Loss or Omission

This weakness occurs when an application fails to log critical security events or records them inaccurately, which can misguide security…

CWE-222 Sibling

Truncation of Security-relevant Information

This vulnerability occurs when a system shortens or cuts off security-critical data during display, logging, or processing. This…

CWE-224 Sibling

Obscured Security-relevant Information by Alternate Name

This vulnerability occurs when a system logs or reports security-critical events using a nickname or alias for a component, instead of its…

CWE-356 Sibling

Product UI does not Warn User of Unsafe Actions

This vulnerability occurs when a software interface fails to alert users before they perform a risky action. Without clear warnings, users…

CWE-396 Sibling

Declaration of Catch for Generic Exception

This weakness occurs when code catches a generic exception type like 'Exception' or 'Throwable', which can hide specific errors and create…

CWE-397 Sibling

Declaration of Throws for Generic Exception

This vulnerability occurs when a method is declared to throw an overly broad exception type, such as a generic 'Exception' or 'Throwable'.…

CWE-451 Sibling

User Interface (UI) Misrepresentation of Critical Information

This vulnerability occurs when a user interface fails to accurately display or highlight crucial information, potentially misleading users…

CWE-1429 Child

Missing Security-Relevant Feedback for Unexecuted Operations in Hardware Interface

This vulnerability occurs when a hardware interface discards operations without providing any security-relevant feedback, such as error…

CWE-778 Child

Insufficient Logging

This weakness occurs when an application fails to properly record important security events or captures them with insufficient detail,…

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