Cyber Resilience

CWE · MITRE source

CWE-159Improper Handling of Invalid Use of Special Elements

Abstraction: Class · CVEs in our corpus: 13

The product does not properly filter, remove, quote, or otherwise manage the invalid use of special elements in user-controlled input, which could cause adverse effect on its behavior and integrity.

Last updated: 20 August 2026 13:14 UTC

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

This weakness contributes to A05:2025 Injection.

Control responseHuman-reviewed

Answering this weakness across the control lifecycle, from our framework cross-walks.

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53 / CSF Protect)
  • PR.PS-06
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
Detect
Catch it (CSF Detect / Respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

NIST 800-53 r5 controls that address this weakness (0)AI-assisted

Control Title Family Why it addresses this CWE
No NIST controls proposed yet.

Top CVEs of this weakness type, ranked by Risk Priority

CVE Risk CVSS EPSS Published
CVE-2019-9505 7.89.80.03452019-05-08
CVE-2020-1653 6.27.50.01592020-07-17
CVE-2020-1648 6.17.50.01282020-07-17
CVE-2020-1646 6.07.50.01012020-07-17
CVE-2021-21707 5.95.30.25952021-11-29
CVE-2026-35536 5.27.20.00242026-04-03
CVE-2020-29022 4.65.30.00802021-02-16
CVE-2021-42375 4.45.50.00382021-11-15
CVE-2024-51500 4.45.30.00422024-11-04
CVE-2026-2636 4.45.50.00412026-02-25
CVE-2026-291064.25.90.00152026-03-19
CVE-2025-61984 3.03.60.00272025-10-06