--- 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