Covert Channel
nounid
2041·updated Aug 30, 2026verified· unreviewed
An unauthorized communication path that manipulates a communications medium in an unexpected, unconventional, or unforeseen way in order to transmit information without detection by anyone other than the entities operating the covert channel.
MWE
Attested in
NIST SP 800-171 Rev 3 - Protecting CUI in Nonfederal Systems
03.13.04 ¶ 2
Classifications
Entity Type
Vulnerability0%rule-basedmulti_axis_classifier_low_confidence.v1
Sensitivity
Restricted70%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5
Information Class
Cui70%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5
Variants
- alternatephrasing
- Covert Channels
- plural
- Covert ChannelsCovert Channelses
- possessive
- Covert Channel'sCovert Channels's
- pluralpossessive
- Covert Channels'Covert Channelses'
Framework definitions
- §1
- Covert Channels are the means by which information can be communicated between two parties in a covert fashion using normal system operations. For example by changing the amount of hard drive space that is available on a file server can be used to communicate information.
- §1
- An unauthorized communication path that manipulates a communications medium in an unexpected, unconventional, or unforeseen way in order to transmit information without detection by anyone other than the entities operating the covert channel.
- §1
- An unauthorized communication path that manipulates a communications medium in an unexpected, unconventional, or unforeseen way in order to transmit information without detection by anyone other than the entities operating the covert channel.
- §1 · attested_usage_pack_match
- No definition is given in NIST SP 800-171r3. The term is attested in use at 1 citation in that document; a definition is pending curation.Increment 2: attested in 800-171r3 without a glossary definition.
- §1 · legacy_primary
- An unauthorized communication path that manipulates a communications medium in an unexpected, unconventional, or unforeseen way in order to transmit information without detection by anyone other than the entities operating the covert channel.DR-088 backfill from the noun definition column
Outgoing relationships
No outgoing triples
This term is not the subject of any RDF-style relationship yet.
Incoming relationships
No incoming triples
No other term currently asserts a relationship to this one.