CWE · MITRE source
CWE-526Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in an Environment Variable
The product uses an environment variable to store unencrypted sensitive information.
Information stored in an environment variable can be accessible by other processes with the execution context, including child processes that dependencies are executed in, or serverless functions in cloud environments. An environment variable's contents can also be inserted into messages, headers, log files, or other outputs. Often these other dependencies have no need to use the environment variable in question. A weakness that discloses environment variables could expose this information.
Last updated: 04 July 2026 12:14 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: mostly · 2 mapping(s) from 2 framework(s): OWASP-Web 1 (mostly) · ATT&CK 1 (mostly)
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
This weakness contributes to A02:2025 Security Misconfiguration.
NIST 800-53 r5 controls that address this weakness (0)AI
| Control | Title | Family | Why it addresses this CWE |
|---|---|---|---|
| No NIST controls proposed yet. | |||
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-2023-5720 | 5.5 | 7.7 | 0.0081 | 2023-11-15 |
CVE-2024-2700 UPD | 5.5 | 7.0 | 0.0029 | 2024-04-04 |
CVE-2025-28381 UPD | 5.5 | 7.5 | 0.0044 | 2025-06-13 |
CVE-2026-40153 | 5.5 | 7.4 | 0.0027 | 2026-04-09 |
CVE-2026-45370 UPD | 5.5 | 7.7 | 0.0022 | 2026-05-14 |
CVE-2014-2377 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 0.0184 | 2014-09-15 |
CVE-2024-4369 | 3.5 | 6.8 | 0.0069 | 2024-05-01 |
CVE-2024-11736 | 3.5 | 4.9 | 0.0075 | 2025-01-14 |
CVE-2025-0985 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 0.0024 | 2025-02-28 |
CVE-2024-12604 | 3.5 | 6.5 | 0.0019 | 2025-03-10 |
CVE-2023-43029 | 3.5 | 6.8 | 0.0041 | 2025-03-21 |
CVE-2025-9162 UPD | 3.5 | 4.9 | 0.0046 | 2025-08-21 |
CVE-2025-36017 | 3.5 | 6.5 | 0.0023 | 2025-12-08 |
CVE-2025-27899 | 3.5 | 5.3 | 0.0020 | 2026-02-17 |
CVE-2025-36105 | 3.5 | 4.4 | 0.0008 | 2026-03-10 |
CVE-2026-49377 UPD | 3.5 | 4.3 | 0.0067 | 2026-05-29 |
CVE-2023-35931 | 1.5 | 3.1 | 0.0081 | 2023-06-23 |
CVE-2023-47615 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 0.0021 | 2023-11-09 |