Cyber Resilience

CWE · MITRE source

CWE-203Observable Discrepancy

Abstraction: Base · CVEs in our corpus: 741

The product behaves differently or sends different responses under different circumstances in a way that is observable to an unauthorized actor.

Last updated: 04 July 2026 00:28 UTC

Cumulative inbound coverage

How completely the frameworks we cross-walk collectively cover this — the verdict is the strongest single mapping (overlapping partials are not summed); breadth shows the corroboration behind it.

Collective: partial · 4 mapping(s) from 2 framework(s): ATT&CK 3 (partial) · CAPEC 1 (partial)

See the full cumulative-coverage rollup →

NIST 800-53 r5 controls that address this weakness (3)AI

Control Title Family Why it addresses this CWE
SC-30Concealment and MisdirectionSCMisdirection can normalize or falsify responses to eliminate observable discrepancies that aid reconnaissance.
SC-31Covert Channel AnalysisSCObservable discrepancies in system behavior can be modulated to create covert storage or timing channels; the required analysis detects and constrains such avenues.
SI-11Error HandlingSIPrevents attackers from using observable differences in error responses to infer internal system details or state.

MITRE ATT&CK techniques this weakness enables

Our own two-way CWE↔ATT&CK cross-walk — a direct mapping with no public source (the CWE→CAPEC→ATT&CK chain leaves most top weaknesses, incl. XSS and SQLi, mapped to nothing). Drafted by Grok and spot-checked by Claude Opus 4.8.

Direction: other covers this; this covers other (F/M/P = full / mostly / partial).

Top CVEs of this weakness type, ranked by Risk Priority

CVE Risk CVSS EPSS Published
CVE-2024-39891 KEV10.05.30.01482024-07-02
CVE-2003-01908.00.00.76752003-05-12
CVE-2017-57158.05.60.74042018-01-04
CVE-2017-57538.05.60.93842018-01-04
CVE-2018-36398.05.50.60632018-05-22
CVE-2023-287708.07.50.57782023-04-27
CVE-2018-10008847.09.80.01292018-12-20
CVE-2019-100717.09.80.08752019-09-16
CVE-2021-19247.09.00.00172021-11-12
CVE-2022-233037.09.80.02942022-01-17
CVE-2022-233047.09.80.01902022-01-17
CVE-2022-408957.09.10.01532022-10-06
CVE-2023-265567.09.10.00862023-04-21
CVE-2023-407567.09.80.00752023-08-28
CVE-2024-23771 UPD7.09.80.01062024-01-22
CVE-2024-25189 UPD7.09.80.00952024-02-08
CVE-2024-25190 UPD7.09.80.00902024-02-08
CVE-2024-25191 UPD7.09.80.00892024-02-08
CVE-2024-25714 UPD7.09.80.00812024-02-11
CVE-2025-276677.09.80.00622025-03-05
CVE-2025-108907.09.10.00292025-09-24
CVE-2026-235197.09.80.00502026-01-15
CVE-2019-253377.09.80.00412026-02-12
CVE-2026-41588 UPD7.09.00.00362026-05-08
CVE-2003-00786.00.00.13722003-03-03