CWE-637: Unnecessary Complexity in Protection Mechanism (Not Using 'Economy of Mechanism')

ID CWE-637
Abstraction Class
Structure Simple
Status Draft
The product uses a more complex mechanism than necessary, which could lead to resultant weaknesses when the mechanism is not correctly understood, modeled, configured, implemented, or used.

Security mechanisms should be as simple as possible. Complex security mechanisms may engender partial implementations and compatibility problems, with resulting mismatches in assumptions and implemented security. A corollary of this principle is that data specifications should be as simple as possible, because complex data specifications result in complex validation code. Complex tasks and systems may also need to be guarded by complex security checks, so simple systems should be preferred.

Modes of Introduction

Phase Note
Architecture and Design
Implementation
Operation

Applicable Platforms

Type Class Name Prevalence
Language Not Language-Specific

Relationships

View Weakness
# ID View Status # ID Name Abstraction Structure Status
CWE-1000 Research Concepts Draft CWE-657 Violation of Secure Design Principles Class Simple Draft
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