What is CWE? What does CWE stand for?
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) is a database that contains a list of common software and hardware weaknesses, providing a standardized and structured way to understand, communicate, and address software vulnerabilities. MITRE began working on categorizing software weaknesses in 1999 when it launched the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) List.
Who owns CWE?
CWE has over 1300 categories across software, hardware, and firmware and is managed by the Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute (HSSEDI), which is operated by The MITRE Corporation. CWE is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
What is the primary purpose of CWE?
MITRE provides a prioritized list of CWEs based on the severity of risk that fits into a category. Typically the weaknesses are introduced during the software development lifecycle and are exploited when deployed in production environments. Developers are not necessarily exposed to or trained in common weakness patterns and don’t have a good way to use the prioritized list to address vulnerabilities in the software during development.
Some of the weaknesses that are frequently exploited are also configuration issues that are caused by known exploits (KEVs), for example, improper access control (CWE-284), authentication bypass using an alternate channel (CWE-288), uncontrolled resource consumption (CWE-400). Risk-based prioritization based on KEVs rather than using blast radius alone after exploitation for a weakness is discussed in this blog on the most Dangerous Software Weaknesses.
Given the sheer number and complexity involved in mapping a weakness to actionable remediation for mitigating it, how can an organization effectively use CWEs?
Other than providing a common language to collaborate across teams and organizations, CWEs are useful for:
- Prioritization and risk assessment
- Improved development practices
- Enhanced Vulnerability management
How to Use CWEs (Common Weakness Enumeration)
Prioritization and Risk Assessment
CWE helps organizations prioritize their security efforts based on guidelines of the most exploitable, common, or have the potential for the greatest impact. Combining this information with Known exploits (KEVs), an organization can provide risk-based guidance on prioritization of remediation efforts.
Improved Development Practices
You can incorporate security checks into your development practices by integrating them into CI/CD pipelines. This will allow you to identify known weaknesses in the code before it enters the testing phase. Use tools that provide guidance on weaknesses and remediation information for the team to track and act upon.
Enhanced Vulnerability Management
CWE facilitates systematic analysis by categorizing vulnerabilities, enabling the tracking of specific weaknesses across systems. By using data from the entire system, prioritization and communication using standardized vocabulary help speed up remediation efforts.
Conclusion
The most effective use of CWE for developers is to provide context-based information on remediation for a weakness by shifting left integrations and guidance on the priority of a weakness for risk management. Even though the CWE category itself doesn’t provide required insight for developers, categorization and systemic visibility into the common issues provide significant help in identifying training needs and developing best practices.
How OpsMx uses CWE Data
OpsMx Delivery Shield employs shift-left integrations at code commit and CI/CD pipelines, along with vulnerability analysis from deployments to provide a systemic view of prioritization and remediation recommendations. Check out OpsMx Delivery Shield for additional information on how we provide a simplified experience to developers for dealing with security issues.
About OpsMx
OpsMx is a leading innovator and thought leader in the Secure Continuous Delivery space. Leading technology companies such as Google, Cisco, Western Union, among others rely on OpsMx to ship better software faster.
OpsMx Secure CD is the industry’s first CI/CD solution designed for software supply chain security. With built-in compliance controls, automated security assessment, and policy enforcement, OpsMx Secure CD can help you deliver software quickly without sacrificing security.
OpsMx Delivery Shield adds DevSecOps capabilities to enterprise deployments by providing Application Security Posture Management (ASPM), unified visibility, compliance automation, and security policy enforcement to your existing application lifecycle.
Frequently Asked Questions on CWE, KEV, Vulnerability Management and Risk-Based Prioritization
1. What is Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) and why is it important?
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) is a database that contains a list of common software and hardware weaknesses maintained by the MITRE Corporation. The CWE database provides a standardized and structured way to identify, understand, and address software vulnerabilities. CWE helps cybersecurity teams with the following:
- Risk Assessment
- Vulnerability Management
- Automated Detection
- Developer Security Training
- Compliance and Regulations
- Incident Response
- Compliance and Regulations
2. How can CWE be integrated into the software development lifecycle?
CWE can be used across various phases of the software development lifecycle to eliminate risks and improve the security posture. Here’s how:
– Planning & Design Phase – Leverage the CWE list to evaluate architectural decisions and avoid introducing vulnerabilities
– Coding & Implementation Phase – Ensure developers are aware of the CWE-list and incorporate the use of SAST and SCA tools to detect CWE weaknesses
– Testing Phase – Perform security testing against CWE categories, such as input validation and authentication flaws
– Monitoring Phase – Continuously monitor the CWE list for new threats that can impact application security
3. What are Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs) and how do they relate to CWE?
Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs) are specific vulnerabilities that are actively exploited by threat actors; and identified, tracked by organizations like CISA and NSA as part of damage control initiatives.
This is how KEVs relate to CWE:
- Mapping – Every KEVs is categorized under one or more CWE list – which highlight the underlying weaknesses that enable exploitation
- Prioritization – Based on an actively exploited KEV, orgs can identify other KEVs related to the same CWE and prioritze remediation efforts
- Prevention – Understanding CWE categories helps developers preemptively mitigate weaknesses, reducing the likelihood of future KEVs
4. How does risk-based prioritization improve vulnerability management?
Risk-based Prioritization (RBP) can help organizations address security vulnerabilities in an efficient manner. Here’s how:
– RBP helps evaluate different vulnerabilities based on factors such as exploitability, potential impact, and criticality to determine the most important fix necessary
– RBP Helps teams allocate resources efficiently to address vulnerabilities that pose the greatest danger to security posture
– RBP reduces the attack surface and minimizes the likelihood of exploitation by addressing high-risk vulnerabilities
5. What are some common weaknesses identified by CWE that developers should be aware of?
Here are 5 common CWE weaknesses that developers should be aware:
- Improper Input Validation (CWE-20)
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79)
- SQL Injection (CWE-89)
- Broken Authentication (CWE-287)
- Insecure Deserialization (CWE-502)
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