Base weakness
Draft
CWE-466: Return of Pointer Value Outside of Expected Range
A function can return a pointer to memory that is outside of the buffer that the pointer is expected to reference.
Last updated
7
Recorded CVEs
With this primary weakness
0
KEVs
In the CISA KEV catalog
Not rated
Likelihood of exploit
Per MITRE
Base
Abstraction
MITRE classification
Overview
CWE-466 (Return of Pointer Value Outside of Expected Range) is a base-level software weakness catalogued by MITRE in the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE). It describes a recurring type of mistake that can lead to exploitable security vulnerabilities.
Real-world CVEs
7 recorded CVEs are caused by CWE-466 (Return of Pointer Value Outside of Expected Range). The highest-severity and most recent are shown first. 5 new CWE-466 CVEs have been recorded so far in 2026.