CWE WEAKNESSES / CWE-326
CWE-326
Inadequate Encryption Strength
Class
What it is
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.
A weak encryption scheme can be subjected to brute force attacks that have a reasonable chance of succeeding using current attack methods and resources.
Impact
| Access Control, Confidentiality | Bypass Protection Mechanism, Read Application Data |
Mitigations
- [Architecture and Design] Use an encryption scheme that is currently considered to be strong by experts in the field.
Real-world CVE examples
- CVE-2001-1546 — Weak encryption
- CVE-2004-2172 — Weak encryption (chosen plaintext attack)
- CVE-2002-1682 — Weak encryption
- CVE-2002-1697 — Weak encryption produces same ciphertext from the same plaintext blocks.
- CVE-2002-1739 — Weak encryption
- CVE-2005-2281 — Weak encryption scheme
- CVE-2002-1872 — Weak encryption (XOR)
- CVE-2002-1910 — Weak encryption (reversible algorithm).
- CVE-2002-1946 — Weak encryption (one-to-one mapping).
- CVE-2002-1975 — Encryption error uses fixed salt, simplifying brute force / dictionary attacks (overlaps randomness).
Related weaknesses
Test & detect
Browse all common weaknesses, check related exploited CVEs, or map to ATT&CK techniques.
Source: MITRE CWE. View on cwe.mitre.org →