CWE-690: Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference
Sources read 2026-10-29. MITRE's own page · All weakness notes · Added to CISA's list in the last seven days
What it is
From MITRE's CWE catalogue
The product does not check for an error after calling a function that can return with a NULL pointer if the function fails, which leads to a resultant NULL pointer dereference.
MITRE classes it as a compound-level weakness.
What it lets an attacker do
From MITRE's CWE catalogue
- DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart (affects: availability)
- Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands, Read Memory, Modify Memory (affects: integrity, confidentiality, availability)
On CISA's exploited list
From CISA's exploited list
1 of the 108 entries CISA added from 2026-08-02 to 2026-10-30 name CWE-690, against 0 of 69 in the 90 days before. Over the whole catalogue 1 entries name it. The counts are small, so read them as a rough order, not a rate.
CISA's list is not every flaw that is exploited: it holds the ones CISA has evidence of, listed on the day it added them.
- CVE-2026-76418, Cisco Secure Firewall ASA Software and Cisco Secure FTD Software, added 2026-10-29
How MITRE says to find it
From MITRE's CWE catalogue
- Black Box
- White Box
- Automated Dynamic Analysis
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