CWE - CWE-389: CWE CATEGORY: Error Conditions, Return Values, Status Codes (4.18)

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CWE Glossary Definition

CWE CATEGORY: Error Conditions, Return Values, Status Codes

Category ID: 389

Vulnerability Mapping: PROHIBITED This CWE ID must not be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities

Summary

This category includes weaknesses that occur if a function does not generate the correct return/status code, or if the application does not handle all possible return/status codes that could be generated by a function. This type of problem is most often found in conditions that are rarely encountered during the normal operation of the product. Presumably, most bugs related to common conditions are found and eliminated during development and testing. In some cases, the attacker can directly control or influence the environment to trigger the rare conditions.

Membership

Nature	Type	ID	Name
MemberOf	ViewView - a subset of CWE entries that provides a way of examining CWE content. The two main view structures are Slices (flat lists) and Graphs (containing relationships between entries).	699	Software Development
MemberOf	CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.	728	OWASP Top Ten 2004 Category A7 - Improper Error Handling
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	209	Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	248	Uncaught Exception
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	252	Unchecked Return Value
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	253	Incorrect Check of Function Return Value
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	390	Detection of Error Condition Without Action
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	391	Unchecked Error Condition
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	392	Missing Report of Error Condition
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	393	Return of Wrong Status Code
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	394	Unexpected Status Code or Return Value
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	395	Use of NullPointerException Catch to Detect NULL Pointer Dereference
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	396	Declaration of Catch for Generic Exception
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	397	Declaration of Throws for Generic Exception
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	544	Missing Standardized Error Handling Mechanism
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	584	Return Inside Finally Block
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	617	Reachable Assertion
HasMember	BaseBase - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.	756	Missing Custom Error Page

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Usage: PROHIBITED

(this CWE ID must not be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)

Reason: Category

Rationale:

This entry is a Category. Using categories for mapping has been discouraged since 2019. Categories are informal organizational groupings of weaknesses that can help CWE users with data aggregation, navigation, and browsing. However, they are not weaknesses in themselves.

Comments:

See member weaknesses of this category.

Notes

Other

Many researchers focus on the resultant weaknesses and do not necessarily diagnose whether a rare condition is the primary factor. However, since 2005 it seems to be reported more frequently than in the past. This subject needs more study.

References

[REF-44] Michael Howard, David LeBlanc and John Viega. "24 Deadly Sins of Software Security". "Sin 11: Failure to Handle Errors Correctly." Page 183. McGraw-Hill. 2010.

Content History

Submissions
Submission Date	Submitter	Organization
2006年07月19日 (CWE Draft 3, 2006年07月19日)	PLOVER
2006年07月19日 (CWE Draft 3, 2006年07月19日)
Modifications
Modification Date	Modifier	Organization
2008年09月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年09月08日	updated Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings
2008年10月14日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2008年10月14日	updated Description
2009年12月28日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2009年12月28日	updated Other_Notes, Weakness_Ordinalities
2017年11月08日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2017年11月08日	updated Applicable_Platforms, Description, Other_Notes, References, Relationships, Research_Gaps, Taxonomy_Mappings, Weakness_Ordinalities
2019年06月20日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2019年06月20日	updated Relationships
2020年02月24日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2020年02月24日	updated Relationships
2023年04月27日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年04月27日	updated Mapping_Notes, Relationships
2023年06月29日	CWE Content Team	MITRE
2023年06月29日	updated Mapping_Notes

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Page Last Updated: September 09, 2025

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