CWE · MITRE source
CWE-656Reliance on Security Through Obscurity
The product uses a protection mechanism whose strength depends heavily on its obscurity, such that knowledge of its algorithms or key data is sufficient to defeat the mechanism.
This reliance on "security through obscurity" can produce resultant weaknesses if an attacker is able to reverse engineer the inner workings of the mechanism. Note that obscurity can be one small part of defense in depth, since it can create more work for an attacker; however, it is a significant risk if used as the primary means of protection.
Last updated: 04 July 2026 13:15 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 · 5 mapping(s) from 3 framework(s): ATT&CK 3 (partial) · OWASP-Web 1 (mostly) · ASVS 5.0 1 (partial)
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
This weakness contributes to A06:2025 Insecure Design.
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-2020-10284 | 7.0 | 9.1 | 0.0139 | 2020-07-15 |
CVE-2026-42363 | 7.0 | 9.3 | 0.0019 | 2026-04-27 |
CVE-2026-7161 UPD | 7.0 | 9.3 | 0.0021 | 2026-05-04 |
CVE-2020-10286 | 5.5 | 8.8 | 0.0074 | 2020-07-15 |
CVE-2024-9138 | 5.5 | 7.2 | 0.0110 | 2025-01-03 |
CVE-2020-10277 | 3.5 | 6.4 | 0.0036 | 2020-06-24 |
CVE-2024-5244 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 0.0034 | 2024-05-23 |
CVE-2025-25983 UPD | 1.5 | 3.4 | 0.0026 | 2025-04-18 |