The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when a parameter, field, or argument name is specified, but the associated value is missing, i.e. it is empty, blank, or null.

Primary

Resultant

Implementation

Integrity
Unexpected State

This Android application has registered to handle a URL when sent an intent:

...
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter("com.example.URLHandler.openURL");MyReceiver receiver = new MyReceiver();registerReceiver(receiver, filter);
...

public class UrlHandlerReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
@Overridepublic void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
if("com.example.URLHandler.openURL".equals(intent.getAction())) {String URL = intent.getStringExtra("URLToOpen");int length = URL.length();

...
}
}
}

The application assumes the URL will always be included in the intent. When the URL is not present, the call to getStringExtra() will return null, thus causing a null pointer exception when length() is called.

CVE-2002-0422
Blank Host header triggers resultant infoleak.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2002-0422

CVE-2000-1006
Blank "charset" attribute in MIME header triggers crash.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2000-1006

CVE-2004-1504
Blank parameter causes external error infoleak.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2004-1504

CVE-2005-2053
Blank parameter causes external error infoleak.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2005-2053

Missing Value Error

ERR08-J
Do not catch NullPointerException or any of its ancestors

Allowed
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.
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.

Some "crash by port scan" bugs are probably due to this, but lack of diagnosis makes it difficult to be certain.

PLOVER
2006-07-19
Draft 3
2006-07-19

Eric Dalci
Cigital
2008-07-01
updated Time_of_Introduction

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2008-09-08
updated Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2009-03-10
updated Description, Name

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2009-10-29
updated Other_Notes, Research_Gaps

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2011-06-01
updated Common_Consequences, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2011-06-27
updated Common_Consequences

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2012-05-11
updated Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2013-07-17
updated Type

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2014-02-18
updated Demonstrative_Examples

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2014-07-30
updated Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2017-11-08
updated Applicable_Platforms

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2019-01-03
updated Taxonomy_Mappings

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2020-02-24
updated Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2021-03-15
updated Demonstrative_Examples

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2023-01-31
updated Description

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2023-04-27
updated Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2023-06-29
updated Mapping_Notes

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2025-12-11
4.19
2025-12-11
updated Weakness_Ordinalities

Missing Value Error
Failure to Handle Missing Value