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⇱ CWE - CWE-451: User Interface (UI) Misrepresentation of Critical Information (4.20)

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Home > CWE List > CWE-451: User Interface (UI) Misrepresentation of Critical Information (4.20)  
CWE Glossary Definition
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CWE-451: User Interface (UI) Misrepresentation of Critical Information

Weakness ID: 451
Vulnerability Mapping: ALLOWED This CWE ID could be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities in limited situations requiring careful review (with careful review of mapping notes)
Abstraction: Class Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.
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Description
The user interface (UI) does not properly represent critical information to the user, allowing the information - or its source - to be obscured or spoofed. This is often a component in phishing attacks.
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Extended Description

If an attacker can cause the UI to display erroneous data, or to otherwise convince the user to display information that appears to come from a trusted source, then the attacker could trick the user into performing the wrong action. This is often a component in phishing attacks, but other kinds of problems exist. For example, if the UI is used to monitor the security state of a system or network, then omitting or obscuring an important indicator could prevent the user from detecting and reacting to a security-critical event.

UI misrepresentation can take many forms:

  • Incorrect indicator: incorrect information is displayed, which prevents the user from understanding the true state of the product or the environment the product is monitoring, especially of potentially-dangerous conditions or operations. This can be broken down into several different subtypes.
  • Overlay: an area of the display is intended to give critical information, but another process can modify the display by overlaying another element on top of it. The user is not interacting with the expected portion of the user interface. This is the problem that enables clickjacking attacks, although many other types of attacks exist that involve overlay.
  • Icon manipulation: the wrong icon, or the wrong color indicator, can be influenced (such as making a dangerous .EXE executable look like a harmless .GIF)
  • Timing: the product is performing a state transition or context switch that is presented to the user with an indicator, but a race condition can cause the wrong indicator to be used before the product has fully switched context. The race window could be extended indefinitely if the attacker can trigger an error.
  • Visual truncation: important information could be truncated from the display, such as a long filename with a dangerous extension that is not displayed in the GUI because the malicious portion is truncated. The use of excessive whitespace can also cause truncation, or place the potentially-dangerous indicator outside of the user's field of view (e.g. "filename.txt .exe"). A different type of truncation can occur when a portion of the information is removed due to reasons other than length, such as the accidental insertion of an end-of-input marker in the middle of an input, such as a NUL byte in a C-style string.
  • Visual distinction: visual information might be presented in a way that makes it difficult for the user to quickly and correctly distinguish between critical and unimportant segments of the display.
  • Homographs: letters from different character sets, fonts, or languages can appear very similar (i.e. may be visually equivalent) in a way that causes the human user to misread the text (for example, to conduct phishing attacks to trick a user into visiting a malicious web site with a visually-similar name as a trusted site). This can be regarded as a type of visual distinction issue.
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Common Consequences
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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

Hide Activities; Bypass Protection Mechanism

Scope: Non-Repudiation, Access Control
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Potential Mitigations
Phase(s) Mitigation

Implementation

Strategy: Input Validation

Perform data validation (e.g. syntax, length, etc.) before interpreting the data.

Architecture and Design

Strategy: Output Encoding

Create a strategy for presenting information, and plan for how to display unusual characters.
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 Relationships
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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.
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Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (View-1000)
Nature Type ID Name
ChildOf 👁 Class
Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource. 		221 Information Loss or Omission
ChildOf 👁 Class
Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource. 		684 Incorrect Provision of Specified Functionality
ParentOf 👁 Base
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. 		1007 Insufficient Visual Distinction of Homoglyphs Presented to User
ParentOf 👁 Base
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. 		1021 Improper Restriction of Rendered UI Layers or Frames
PeerOf 👁 Class
Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource. 		346 Origin Validation Error
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Modes Of Introduction
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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
Architecture and Design
Implementation
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Applicable Platforms
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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)

Operating Systems

Class: Not OS-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

Technologies

Class: Not Technology-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

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Selected Observed Examples

Note: this is a curated list of examples for users to understand the variety of ways in which this weakness can be introduced. It is not a complete list of all CVEs that are related to this CWE entry.

Reference Description
Chain: JavaScript-based application removes ANSI escape sequences in a dialog that asks permission for a particular file, causing the wrong filename to be visually presented for user approval (CWE-451), but the filename still contains the ANSI escape sequences (CWE-150), potentially causing the user to grant access to the wrong file.
Web browser's filename selection dialog only shows the beginning portion of long filenames, which can trick users into launching executables with dangerous extensions.
Attachment with many spaces in filename bypasses "dangerous content" warning and uses different icon. Likely resultant.
Misrepresentation and equivalence issue.
Lock spoofing from several different weaknesses.
Incorrect indicator: web browser can be tricked into presenting the wrong URL
Incorrect indicator: Lock icon displayed when an insecure page loads a binary file loaded from a trusted site.
Incorrect indicator: Secure "lock" icon is presented for one channel, while an insecure page is being simultaneously loaded in another channel.
Incorrect indicator: Certain redirect sequences cause security lock icon to appear in web browser, even when page is not encrypted.
Incorrect indicator: Spoofing via multi-step attack that causes incorrect information to be displayed in browser address bar.
Overlay: Wide "favorites" icon can overlay and obscure address bar
Visual distinction: Web browsers do not clearly associate a Javascript dialog box with the web page that generated it, allowing spoof of the source of the dialog. "origin validation error" of a sort?
Visual distinction: Web browsers do not clearly associate a Javascript dialog box with the web page that generated it, allowing spoof of the source of the dialog. "origin validation error" of a sort?
Visual distinction: Web browsers do not clearly associate a Javascript dialog box with the web page that generated it, allowing spoof of the source of the dialog. "origin validation error" of a sort?
Visual distinction: Web browsers do not clearly associate a Javascript dialog box with the web page that generated it, allowing spoof of the source of the dialog. "origin validation error" of a sort?
Visual distinction: Browser allows attackers to create chromeless windows and spoof victim's display using unprotected Javascript method.
Visual distinction: Chat client allows remote attackers to spoof encrypted, trusted messages with lines that begin with a special sequence, which makes the message appear legitimate.
Visual distinction: Product allows spoofing names of other users by registering with a username containing hex-encoded characters.
Visual truncation: Special character in URL causes web browser to truncate the user portion of the "user@domain" URL, hiding real domain in the address bar.
Visual truncation: Chat client does not display long filenames in file dialog boxes, allowing dangerous extensions via manipulations including (1) many spaces and (2) multiple file extensions.
Visual truncation: Web browser file download type can be hidden using whitespace.
Visual truncation: Visual truncation in chat client using whitespace to hide dangerous file extension.
Visual truncation: Dialog box in web browser allows user to spoof the hostname via a long "user:pass" sequence in the URL, which appears before the real hostname.
Visual truncation: Null character in URL prevents entire URL from being displayed in web browser.
Miscellaneous -- [step-based attack, GUI] -- Password-protected tab can be bypassed by switching to another tab, then back to original tab.
Miscellaneous -- Dangerous file extensions not displayed.
Miscellaneous -- Web browser allows remote attackers to misrepresent the source of a file in the File Download dialog box.
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Weakness Ordinalities
Ordinality Description
Primary
(where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)
Resultant
(where the weakness is typically related to the presence of some other weaknesses)
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Memberships
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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 👁 View
View - a subset of CWE entries that provides a way of examining CWE content. The two main view structures are Slices (flat lists) and Graphs (containing relationships between entries).		 884 CWE Cross-section
MemberOf 👁 Category
Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.		 995 SFP Secondary Cluster: Feature
MemberOf 👁 Category
Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.		 1348 OWASP Top Ten 2021 Category A04:2021 - Insecure Design
MemberOf 👁 Category
Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.		 1379 ICS Operations (& Maintenance): Human factors in ICS environments
MemberOf 👁 Category
Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.		 1412 Comprehensive Categorization: Poor Coding Practices
MemberOf 👁 Category
Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.		 1441 OWASP Top Ten 2025 Category A06:2025 - Insecure Design
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Vulnerability Mapping Notes
Usage ALLOWED-WITH-REVIEW
(this CWE ID could be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities in limited situations requiring careful review)
Reason Abstraction

Rationale

This CWE entry is a Class and might have Base-level children that would be more appropriate

Comments

Examine children of this entry to see if there is a better fit
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Notes

Research Gap

Misrepresentation problems are frequently studied in web browsers, but there are no known efforts for classifying these kinds of problems in terms of the shortcomings of the interface. In addition, many misrepresentation issues are resultant.

Maintenance

This entry should be broken down into more precise entries. See extended description.
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Taxonomy Mappings
Mapped Taxonomy Name Node ID Fit Mapped Node Name
PLOVER UI Misrepresentation of Critical Information
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References
[REF-434] David Wheeler. "Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO". 7.16. Foil Semantic Attacks. 2003-03-03.
<https://dwheeler.com/secure-programs/Secure-Programs-HOWTO/semantic-attacks.html>. (URL validated: 2025-07-24)
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Content History
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Submissions
Submission Date Submitter Organization
2006-07-19
(CWE Draft 3, 2006-07-19) 		PLOVER
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Modifications
Modification Date Modifier Organization
2026-04-30
(CWE 4.20, 2026-04-30) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Observed_Examples
2025-12-11
(CWE 4.19, 2025-12-11) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Applicable_Platforms, Relationships, Weakness_Ordinalities
2025-09-09
(CWE 4.18, 2025-09-09) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated References
2023-06-29
(CWE 4.12, 2023-06-29) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Mapping_Notes
2023-04-27
(CWE 4.11, 2023-04-27) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2023-01-31
(CWE 4.10, 2023-01-31) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Description, Related_Attack_Patterns
2022-04-28
(CWE 4.7, 2022-04-28) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2021-10-28
(CWE 4.6, 2021-10-28) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2021-03-15
(CWE 4.4, 2021-03-15) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Maintenance_Notes, Observed_Examples
2020-02-24
(CWE 4.0, 2020-02-24) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2017-11-08
(CWE 3.0, 2017-11-08) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Observed_Examples, References, Relationships, Type
2017-01-19
(CWE 2.10, 2017-01-19) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2014-07-30
(CWE 2.8, 2014-07-31) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2014-02-18
(CWE 2.6, 2014-02-19) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Applicable_Platforms, Description, Maintenance_Notes, Name, Observed_Examples, Other_Notes, References, Relationships, Research_Gaps
2014-02-13
(CWE 2.6, 2014-02-19) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
Defined several different subtypes of this issue.
2012-10-30
(CWE 2.3, 2012-10-30) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Potential_Mitigations
2012-05-11
(CWE 2.2, 2012-05-15) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Relationships
2011-06-01
(CWE 1.13, 2011-06-01) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Common_Consequences
2008-09-08
(CWE 1.0, 2008-09-09) 		CWE Content Team MITRE
updated Maintenance_Notes, Relationships, Other_Notes, Taxonomy_Mappings
2008-07-01
(CWE 1.0, 2008-09-09) 		Eric Dalci Cigital
updated Potential_Mitigations, Time_of_Introduction
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Previous Entry Names
Change Date Previous Entry Name
2014-02-18 UI Misrepresentation of Critical Information
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Page Last Updated: April 30, 2026

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