README.md

---
task_categories:
- text-classification
language:
- en
license: cc-by-4.0
library_name: datasets
tags:
- vulnerability
- cybersecurity
- security
- cve
- mitre-attack
- attack-techniques
dataset_info:
  features:
  - name: id
    dtype: string
  - name: title
    dtype: string
  - name: description
    dtype: string
  - name: exploitation_techniques
    list: string
  - name: primary_impact
    list: string
  - name: secondary_impact
    list: string
  - name: techniques
    list: string
  - name: techniques_derived
    list: string
  - name: label_sources
    list: string
  - name: attack_version
    dtype: string
  splits:
  - name: train
    num_bytes: 691228
    num_examples: 1086
  - name: test
    num_bytes: 77015
    num_examples: 121
  download_size: 485452
  dataset_size: 768243
configs:
- config_name: default
  data_files:
  - split: train
    path: data/train-*
  - split: test
    path: data/test-*
---

# vulnerability-attack-techniques

This dataset maps **1,207 CVEs** to **MITRE ATT&CK (Enterprise) techniques**, joining
hand-curated mappings from the [MITRE Center for Threat-Informed Defense (CTID)](https://ctid.mitre.org/)
with vulnerability descriptions from
[CIRCL/vulnerability-scores](https://huggingface.co/datasets/CIRCL/vulnerability-scores).
It is intended for training and evaluating models that suggest candidate ATT&CK
techniques from a vulnerability description: CVSS tells you *how bad* a
vulnerability is, CWE *what kind of flaw* it is — ATT&CK tells defenders *what
adversary behavior to expect and detect*.

Every label in the `techniques` column was written by an analyst following the CTID
["Mapping ATT&CK to CVE for Impact" methodology](https://github.com/center-for-threat-informed-defense/attack_to_cve/blob/master/methodology.md),
which assigns each CVE up to three kinds of techniques: an **exploitation
technique** (how it is exploited), a **primary impact** (what exploitation
directly yields), and a **secondary impact** (what the attacker can do next).

## Label sources

| `label_sources` | CVEs | Origin |
|-----------------|------|--------|
| `ctid_cve` | 788 | [attack_to_cve](https://github.com/center-for-threat-informed-defense/attack_to_cve) (2021), ATT&CK v9 era |
| `ctid_kev` | 392 | [Mappings Explorer](https://center-for-threat-informed-defense.github.io/mappings-explorer/) KEV mappings, ATT&CK 16.1 |
| both | 27 | |

All technique IDs are normalized to **enterprise ATT&CK v19.1**: techniques revoked
since the original mappings are remapped to their successor via the STIX
`revoked-by` relationships (e.g. T1562 *Impair Defenses* → T1685 *Disable or
Modify Tools*), and Mobile/ICS techniques are dropped (enterprise domain only).

## ⚠️ `techniques` vs `techniques_derived`

The `techniques_derived` column contains labels from the automatically derived
CVE → CWE → CAPEC → ATT&CK chain maintained by
[CVE2CAPEC](https://github.com/Galeax/CVE2CAPEC). **Do not train on this
column.** Analysis of the chain shows a median fan-out of 4–20 techniques per
CVE and top-frequency techniques (e.g. T1574.007 on 53% of 2024 CVEs) that are
artifacts of the cross-framework table expansion, not descriptions of real
adversary behavior. The column is included as:

1. a candidate prior at inference time (restrict suggestions to techniques compatible with the CWE chain);
2. a baseline that a trained model must beat;
3. a comparison column for studying where the deterministic chain diverges from analyst judgment.

The full source analysis is documented in the
[VulnTrain documentation](https://github.com/vulnerability-lookup/VulnTrain/blob/main/docs/attack-techniques-dataset.md).

## Fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `id` | string | CVE identifier |
| `title` | string | Vulnerability title |
| `description` | string | Vulnerability description in English (model input) |
| `exploitation_techniques` | list[string] | CTID exploitation technique(s) |
| `primary_impact` | list[string] | CTID primary impact technique(s) |
| `secondary_impact` | list[string] | CTID secondary impact technique(s) |
| `techniques` | list[string] | Union of all curated techniques — the training target |
| `techniques_derived` | list[string] | CVE2CAPEC weak labels — **not** for training |
| `label_sources` | list[string] | `ctid_cve` and/or `ctid_kev` |
| `attack_version` | string | Enterprise ATT&CK version the IDs are normalized to |

## Label statistics

192 distinct techniques; 66 with at least 5 examples. Most CVEs carry 1–3
techniques. Top techniques: T1190 *Exploit Public-Facing Application* (348),
T1059 *Command and Scripting Interpreter* (262), T1203 *Exploitation for Client
Execution* (213), T1068 *Exploitation for Privilege Escalation* (189).

## Known limitations

- **Size**: ~1,200 CVEs supports a proof-of-concept, not a production model.
- **Selection bias**: both label sources over-represent exploited-in-the-wild
  vulnerabilities (the KEV set by construction).
- **Inherent task ceiling**: a CVE description describes a flaw, while ATT&CK
  describes attacker behavior around it — even human annotators disagree on
  such mappings. Models trained on this data should *suggest candidate
  techniques for analyst review*, not produce authoritative mappings.

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

dataset = load_dataset("CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-techniques")

for entry in dataset["train"].select(range(3)):
    print(entry["id"], entry["techniques"], "-", entry["description"][:80])
```

## Licensing of upstream sources

The CTID mappings are Apache-2.0. Descriptions come from
[CIRCL/vulnerability-scores](https://huggingface.co/datasets/CIRCL/vulnerability-scores)
(CC BY 4.0). The `techniques_derived` column is derived from the GPLv3
[CVE2CAPEC](https://github.com/Galeax/CVE2CAPEC) project. MITRE ATT&CK® is a
registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation; ATT&CK content is used in
accordance with the [MITRE ATT&CK terms of use](https://attack.mitre.org/resources/legal-and-branding/terms-of-use/).

## References

- [Vulnerability-Lookup](https://vulnerability.circl.lu) — the vulnerability data source
- [VulnTrain](https://github.com/vulnerability-lookup/VulnTrain) — generation pipeline (`vulntrain-dataset-attack-generation`)
- [Methodology documentation](https://github.com/vulnerability-lookup/VulnTrain/blob/main/docs/attack-techniques-dataset.md)
- [MITRE CTID attack_to_cve](https://github.com/center-for-threat-informed-defense/attack_to_cve) and [Mappings Explorer](https://center-for-threat-informed-defense.github.io/mappings-explorer/)
- [CVE2CAPEC](https://github.com/Galeax/CVE2CAPEC) by Galeax