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

Weakness Name

Unnecessary Complexity in Protection Mechanism (Not Using 'Economy of Mechanism')

Description

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.

Common Consequences

Related Weaknesses

CWE-657Violation of Secure Design Principles