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CWE-921: Storage of Sensitive Data in a Mechanism without Access Control
Weakness ID: 921Vulnerability Mapping: ALLOWED This CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities
Abstraction: 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.View customized information:For users who are interested in more notional aspects of a weakness. Example: educators, technical writers, and project/program managers. For users who are concerned with the practical application and details about the nature of a weakness and how to prevent it from happening. Example: tool developers, security researchers, pen-testers, incident response analysts. For users who are mapping an issue to CWE/CAPEC IDs, i.e., finding the most appropriate CWE for a specific issue (e.g., a CVE record). Example: tool developers, security researchers. For users who wish to see all available information for the CWE/CAPEC entry. For users who want to customize what details are displayed.
Description
Extended Description
Common Consequences
This 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 Read Application Data; Read Files or Directories
Scope: Confidentiality Attackers can read sensitive information by accessing the unrestricted storage mechanism.Modify Application Data; Modify Files or Directories
Scope: Integrity Attackers can modify or delete sensitive information by accessing the unrestricted storage mechanism.
Relationships
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 and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user
may want to explore.
Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (View-1000)
Nature Type ID Name ChildOf 
Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.
922 Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information
Relevant to the view "Software Development" (View-699)
Nature Type ID Name MemberOf 
Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.
199 Information Management Errors
Relevant to the view "Architectural Concepts" (View-1008)
Nature Type ID Name MemberOf
Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.
1011 Authorize Actors
Modes
Of IntroductionThe 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 Note Architecture and Design OMISSION: This weakness is caused by missing a security tactic during the architecture and design phase.
Applicable PlatformsThis 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.
Languages Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)
Technologies Class: Mobile (Undetermined Prevalence)
Weakness Ordinalities Memberships
This 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 Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.1396 Comprehensive Categorization: Access Control
Vulnerability Mapping Notes References Content
History SubmissionsSubmission Date Submitter Organization 2013-06-22
(CWE 2.5, 2013-07-17)CWE Content Team MITRE 
ModificationsModification Date Modifier Organization 2025-12-11
(CWE 4.19, 2025-12-11)CWE Content Team MITRE updated Weakness_Ordinalities 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 References, Relationships 2023-01-31
(CWE 4.10, 2023-01-31)CWE Content Team MITRE updated Description 2020-02-24
(CWE 4.0, 2020-02-24)CWE Content Team MITRE updated Applicable_Platforms, Relationships 2017-11-08
(CWE 3.0, 2017-11-08)CWE Content Team MITRE updated Modes_of_Introduction, References, Relationships
