CWE-697

Pillar Abstraction Level
Pillar — Highest-level weakness category
Class — Abstract, language-independent
Base — Specific enough to detect
Variant — Tied to specific technology
Compound — Requires multiple weaknesses Incomplete MITRE CWE Status
Stable — Fully reviewed and complete
Draft — Under development, may change
Incomplete — Partially defined by MITRE
Deprecated — No longer recommended
Obsolete — Replaced by another CWE
Incorrect Comparison

Description

The product compares two entities in a security-relevant context, but the comparison is incorrect.

This Pillar covers several possibilities: the comparison checks one factor incorrectly; the comparison should consider multiple factors, but it does not check at least one of those factors at all; the comparison checks the wrong factor.

Top Monitored CVEs

CVE-2024-5217
CRITICAL KEV
9.8 99.6%
2024-07-10
CVE-2020-5849
HIGH KEV
7.5 93.2%
2020-03-16
CVE-2025-3102
HIGH
8.1 76.1%
2025-04-10

Consequences

Other — Varies by Context

When the comparison is incorrect, it may lead to resultant weaknesses.

Detection

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.)