Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-1120

Weakness Allowed-with-Review

Excessive Code Complexity

Abstraction: Class · Status: Incomplete

The code is too complex, as calculated using a well-defined, quantitative measure.

Dimensions

  • Code-Property: Excessive
  • Code-Type: Code
  • Code-Property: Complexity
Mapping guidance

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

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

Relationships and members
ChildOf: CWE-710 · View CWE-1000
Modes of introduction
Implementation
Detection methods

Automated Static Analysis

Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)

Effectiveness: High

Content history
Submission: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2018-07-02 · CWE 3.2

Entry derived from Common Quality Enumeration (CQE) Draft 0.9.

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2020-02-24 · CWE 4.0

updated Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2023-01-31 · CWE 4.10

updated Description

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2023-04-27 · CWE 4.11

updated Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2023-06-29 · CWE 4.12

updated Mapping_Notes

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2025-12-11 · CWE 4.19

updated Applicable_Platforms, Common_Consequences, Description, Detection_Factors, Time_of_Introduction

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2026-10-28 · CWE 5.0

updated Dimensions, References, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

0 vulnerabilities reference this CWE, most recent first.

No vulnerabilities reference this CWE.

No mitigation information available for this CWE.

No CAPEC attack patterns related to this CWE.