CWE - CWE-1069: Empty Exception Block (5.0)
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    CWE-1069: Empty Exception Block

    Weakness ID: 1069
    Vulnerability Mapping: ALLOWED This CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities
    Abstraction: Variant Variant - a weakness that is linked to a certain type of product, typically involving a specific language or technology. More specific than a Base weakness. Variant level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 3 to 5 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.
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    + Description
    An invokable code block contains an exception handling block that does not contain any code, i.e. is empty.
    + Common Consequences
    Section HelpThis table specifies different individual consequences associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to achieve a different impact.
    Impact Details

    Reduce Reliability

    		Scope: Other

    When an exception handling block (such as a Catch and Finally block) is used, but that block is empty, this can prevent the product from running reliably. If the relevant code is reachable by an attacker, then this reliability problem might introduce a vulnerability.
    + Potential Mitigations
    Phase(s) Mitigation

    Implementation

    For every exception block add code that handles the specific exception in the way intended by the application.
    + Relationships
    Section Help This table shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOf and give insight to similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such as PeerOf, Overlaps, and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user may want to explore.
    + Relevant to the view "Complete Weakness Hierarchy" (View-1000)
    Nature Type ID Name
    ChildOf Base Base - 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. 1071 Empty Code Block
    + Modes Of Introduction
    Section HelpThe different Modes of Introduction provide information about how and when this weakness may be introduced. The Phase identifies a point in the life cycle at which introduction may occur, while the Note provides a typical scenario related to introduction during the given phase.
    Phase(s) Note

    Implementation

    + Applicable Platforms
    Section HelpThis listing shows possible areas for which the given weakness could appear. These may be for specific named Languages, Operating Systems, Architectures, Paradigms, Technologies, or a class of such platforms. The platform is listed along with how frequently the given weakness appears for that instance.
    Type Applicable Platforms Notes
    Languages

    Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

    + Demonstrative Examples

    Example 1


    The following code excerpt ignores a rarely-thrown exception from doExchange().

    (bad code)
    Example Language: Java 
    try {
    doExchange();
    }
    catch (RareException e) {
    // this can never happen
    }

    If a RareException were to ever be thrown, the program would continue to execute as though nothing unusual had occurred. The program records no evidence indicating the special situation, potentially frustrating any later attempt to explain the program's behavior.



    Example 2


    In the following Java example, the code catches an ArithmeticException.

    (bad code)
    Example Language: Java 
    public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
    int a = 1;
    int b = 0;
    int c = 0;

    try {
    c = a / b;

    } catch(ArithmeticException ae) {
    }

    }

    }

    Since the exception block is empty, no action is taken.

    In the code below the exception has been logged and the bad execution has been handled in the desired way allowing the program to continue in an expected way.

    (good code)
    Example Language: Java 
    public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
    int a = 1;
    int b = 0;
    int c = 0;

    try {
    c = a / b;

    } catch(ArithmeticException ae) {
    log.error("Divided by zero detected, setting to -1.");
    c = -1;

    }

    }

    }


    + Weakness Ordinalities
    Ordinality Description
    Indirect
    (where the weakness is a quality issue that might indirectly make it easier to introduce security-relevant weaknesses or make them more difficult to detect)
    + Detection Methods
    Method Details

    Automated Static Analysis

    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.)

    Effectiveness: High
    + Memberships
    Section HelpThis MemberOf Relationships table shows additional CWE Categories and Views that reference this weakness as a member. This information is often useful in understanding where a weakness fits within the context of external information sources.
    Nature Type ID Name
    MemberOf GroupingGrouping - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1129 CISQ Quality Measures (2016) - Reliability
    MemberOf GroupingGrouping - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1412 Comprehensive Categorization: Poor Coding Practices
    + Vulnerability Mapping Notes
    Usage ALLOWED
    (this CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)
    Reasons Acceptable-Use, Other

    Rationale

    		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.

    Comments

    		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. In many cases, the use of an empty exception block may only indicate a quality issue. However, in some cases, it prevents the product from appropriately responding to security-critical events. Consider also mapping to the higher-level weakness that is resultant from this one. Note: this weakness was formerly 'Prohibited' for mapping from CWE 4.14 (2024-02-29) to CWE 4.19.1 (2026-01-21).
    + Taxonomy Mappings
    Mapped Taxonomy Name Node ID Fit Mapped Node Name
    OMG ASCRM ASCRM-RLB-1
    + References
    [REF-961] Object Management Group (OMG). "Automated Source Code Reliability Measure (ASCRM)". ASCRM-RLB-1. 2016-01.
    <http://www.omg.org/spec/ASCRM/1.0/>.
    + Content History
    + Submissions
    Submission Date Submitter Organization
    2018-07-02
    (CWE 3.2, 2019-01-03)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    Entry derived from Common Quality Enumeration (CQE) Draft 0.9.
    + Contributions
    Contribution Date Contributor Organization
    2026-04-07
    (CWE 4.20, 2026-04-30)     		Daniel "acepace" Goldberg Tenzai
    Reported CWE-391 as suggesting CWE-1069, whose mapping usage was Prohibited at the time, leading to changing CWE-1069's usage to Allowed.
    2022-08-15
    (CWE 4.9, 2022-10-13)     		Drew Buttner MITRE
    Suggested new demonstrative examples, mitigations, and applicable platforms.
    + Modifications
    Modification Date Modifier Organization
    2026-10-28
    (CWE 5.0, 2026-10-28)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Demonstrative_Examples, Detection_Factors
    2026-04-30
    (CWE 4.20, 2026-04-30)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Mapping_Notes
    2025-12-11
    (CWE 4.19, 2025-12-11)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Common_Consequences, Description, Time_of_Introduction
    2024-02-29
    (CWE 4.14, 2024-02-29)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Demonstrative_Examples, Mapping_Notes
    2023-06-29
    (CWE 4.12, 2023-06-29)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Mapping_Notes
    2023-04-27
    (CWE 4.11, 2023-04-27)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Relationships, Type
    2023-01-31
    (CWE 4.10, 2023-01-31)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Description
    2022-10-13
    (CWE 4.9, 2022-10-13)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Applicable_Platforms, Demonstrative_Examples, Potential_Mitigations
    2020-02-24
    (CWE 4.0, 2020-02-24)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Relationships, Type
    Page Last Updated: Oct 28, 2026