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Weakness · BaseCWE-319

CWE-319: Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information

Likelihood of exploit: HighBase

As of 2026-10-05, CWE-319 (Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information) underlies 3 CVEs tracked by Threadlinqs, none of them in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and is cited by 14 tracked threats. MITRE rates its likelihood of exploit as High.

CVEs
3Mapped to CWE-319
CISA KEV
0None listed yet
Critical
0CVSS v3 critical CVEs
Threats
14Tracked campaigns citing it
Likelihood
HighMITRE likelihood of exploit

Last updated:

What is CWE-319?

The product transmits sensitive or security-critical data in cleartext in a communication channel that can be sniffed by unauthorized actors.

CWE-319 is a base-level weakness in MITRE’s Common Weakness Enumeration, with a MITRE likelihood of exploit of High. Applicable platforms: Language: Not Language-Specific; Technology: Not Technology-Specific; Technology: Cloud Computing; Technology: Mobile; Technology: ICS/OT; Technology: System on Chip.

Source: MITRE CWE (CWE-319 definition, reproduced verbatim). Counts and linkage below are Threadlinqs data.

Consequences

  • Integrity, Confidentiality — Read Application Data, Modify Files or Directories. Anyone can read the information by gaining access to the channel being used for communication. Many communication channels can be "sniffed" (monitored) by adversaries during data transmission. For example, in networking, packets can traverse many intermediary nodes from the source to the destination, whether across the internet, an internal network, the cloud, etc. Some actors might have privileged access to a network interface or any link along the channel, such as a router, but they might not…
  • Integrity, Confidentiality — Read Application Data, Modify Files or Directories, Other. When full communications are recorded or logged, such as with a packet dump, an adversary could attempt to obtain the dump long after the transmission has occurred and try to "sniff" the cleartext from the recorded communications in the dump itself. Even if the information is encoded in a way that is not human-readable, certain techniques could determine which encoding is being used, then decode the information.

Source: MITRE CWE, common consequences.

How CWE-319 is exploited in the wild

Threadlinqs maps 3 CVEs to CWE-319, published between 2022-08-31 and 2026-10-01. None of them is in the CISA KEV catalog yet. By CVSS v3 severity the set splits into 2 high. The highest EPSS score in the set is 0.1% (CVE-2026-18176), the modelled probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. 14 tracked threats reference CWE-319 directly or through a CVE it covers; the most recent is “Iran Exploits SS7 Roaming Infrastructure and Commercial Ad-Tech to Track US Military Smartphones During Operation Epic Fury” (2026-09-09). Affected products concentrate in Automationdirect (1), IBM (1), Johnson Controls (1).

Vulnerabilities (CVEs)

All 3 CVEs mapped to CWE-319, CISA KEV first, then by CVSS score.

Affected vendors

Threat activity

14 tracked threats cite CWE-319:

Mitigations

  • Architecture and Design: Before transmitting, encrypt the data using reliable, confidentiality-protecting cryptographic protocols.
  • Implementation: When using web applications with SSL, use SSL for the entire session from login to logout, not just for the initial login page.
  • Implementation: When designing hardware platforms, ensure that approved encryption algorithms (such as those recommended by NIST) protect paths from security critical data to trusted user applications.
  • Testing: Use tools and techniques that require manual (human) analysis, such as penetration testing, threat modeling, and interactive tools that allow the tester to record and modify an active session. These may be more effective than strictly automated techniques. This is especially the case with weaknesses that are related to design and business rules.
  • Operation: Configure servers to use encrypted channels for communication, which may include SSL or other secure protocols.

Source: MITRE CWE, potential mitigations.

Detection methods (MITRE CWE)

  • Black Box: Use monitoring tools that examine the software's process as it interacts with the operating system and the network. This technique is useful in cases when source code is unavailable, if the software was not developed by you, or if you want to verify that the build phase did not introduce any new weaknesses. Examples include debuggers that directly attach to the running process; system-call tracing utilities such as truss (Solaris) and strace (Linux); system activity monitors such as FileMon…
  • Automated Static Analysis (effectiveness: High): Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)

Source: MITRE CWE, detection methods. Threadlinqs detection rules for the threats above are Blue tier and higher.