CWE

CWE, short for Common Weakness Enumeration, is a numbered list of ways software can go wrong. Not specific bugs in specific programs, but categories: this one is a memory error of a certain kind, that one is a way user input can reach a database unchecked.

It exists so that everyone speaks the same language. When a scanner reports a finding with a CWE number attached, any other team or tool knows exactly which class of problem is meant without arguing about wording. It is maintained by MITRE, and it is the companion to CVE, which numbers individual real-world vulnerabilities rather than types.