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Weakness

Encoding Error

CWE-172 · Class · Draft

The product does not properly encode or decode the data, resulting in unexpected values.

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Weakness Relationships

Where this weakness sits in the CWE hierarchy. Walk up to broader classes or down to more specific variants.
Parent of this (broader)
ChildOfCWE-707 · Improper Neutralization
Children (more specific)
ParentOfCWE-173 · Improper Handling of Alternate Encoding
ParentOfCWE-174 · Double Decoding of the Same Data
ParentOfCWE-175 · Improper Handling of Mixed Encoding
ParentOfCWE-176 · Improper Handling of Unicode Encoding
ParentOfCWE-177 · Improper Handling of URL Encoding (Hex Encoding)
Related
CanPrecedeCWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CanPrecedeCWE-41 · Improper Resolution of Path Equivalence
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Attack Patterns (CAPEC)

10
How adversaries exploit this weakness, per MITRE CAPEC.
CAPEC-120Double Encoding
CAPEC-267Leverage Alternate Encoding
CAPEC-3Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters
CAPEC-52Embedding NULL Bytes
CAPEC-53Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash
CAPEC-64Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic
CAPEC-71Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic
CAPEC-72URL Encoding
CAPEC-78Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding
CAPEC-80Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic
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CVEs With This Weakness

16
A sample of the 16 CVEs tagged with this weakness.
CVECVE-2026-42926
CVECVE-2025-27110
CVECVE-2025-12758
CVECVE-2024-48909
CVECVE-2021-33604
CVECVE-2019-12677
CVECVE-2019-10160
CVECVE-2019-10153
CVECVE-2018-7289
CVECVE-2018-7173
CVECVE-2018-3777
CVECVE-2018-2415
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