Vulnerability Mapping:ALLOWEDThis CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities Abstraction:
VariantVariant - 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
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
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
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
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.
The 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
Implementation
Applicable Platforms
This 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)
Demonstrative Examples
Example 1
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)
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.
(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).