CWE-337β€”Predictable Seed in Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)

PUBLISHEDweakness record
released 2006-07-19 Β· last modified 2025-12-11

Metadata

CWE ID:
CWE-337
Abstraction:
Variant
Structure:
Simple
Status:
Draft
Release Date:
2006-07-19
Latest Modification Date:
2025-12-11

Weakness Name

Predictable Seed in Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)

Description

A Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) is initialized from a predictable seed, such as the process ID or system time.

The use of predictable seeds significantly reduces the number of possible seeds that an attacker would need to test in order to predict which random numbers will be generated by the PRNG.

Common Consequences

Scope:
Other
Impact:
Varies by Context

Related Weaknesses

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