CWE-207 Detail

CWE-207

Observable Behavioral Discrepancy With Equivalent Products
Draft
2006-07-19
00h00 +00:00
2023-06-29
00h00 +00:00
Notifications for a CWE
Stay informed of any changes for a specific CWE.
Notifications manage

Name: Observable Behavioral Discrepancy With Equivalent Products

The product operates in an environment in which its existence or specific identity should not be known, but it behaves differently than other products with equivalent functionality, in a way that is observable to an attacker.

CWE Description

For many kinds of products, multiple products may be available that perform the same functionality, such as a web server, network interface, or intrusion detection system. Attackers often perform "fingerprinting," which uses discrepancies in order to identify which specific product is in use. Once the specific product has been identified, the attacks can be made more customized and efficient. Often, an organization might intentionally allow the specific product to be identifiable. However, in some environments, the ability to identify a distinct product is unacceptable, and it is expected that every product would behave in exactly the same way. In these more restricted environments, a behavioral difference might pose an unacceptable risk if it makes it easier to identify the product's vendor, model, configuration, version, etc.

General Informations

Modes Of Introduction

Architecture and Design
Implementation

Applicable Platforms

Language

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined)

Common Consequences

Scope Impact Likelihood
Confidentiality
Access Control
Read Application Data, Bypass Protection Mechanism

Observed Examples

References Description

CVE-2002-0208

Product modifies TCP/IP stack and ICMP error messages in unusual ways that show the product is in use.

CVE-2004-2252

Behavioral infoleak by responding to SYN-FIN packets.

CVE-2000-1142

Honeypot generates an error with a "pwd" command in a particular directory, allowing attacker to know they are in a honeypot system.

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Justification : This CWE entry is at the Variant level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.
Comment : Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

Submission

Name Organization Date Date release Version
PLOVER 2006-07-19 +00:00 2006-07-19 +00:00 Draft 3

Modifications

Name Organization Date Comment
Eric Dalci Cigital 2008-07-01 +00:00 updated Potential_Mitigations, Time_of_Introduction
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-09-08 +00:00 updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2009-12-28 +00:00 updated Description, Name
CWE Content Team MITRE 2011-06-01 +00:00 updated Common_Consequences
CWE Content Team MITRE 2012-05-11 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2012-10-30 +00:00 updated Potential_Mitigations
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-07-30 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2017-11-08 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-02-24 +00:00 updated Description, Name, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-06-29 +00:00 updated Mapping_Notes