Common Platform Enumeration

Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) is a structured naming scheme for information technology systems, software, and packages. Based upon the generic syntax for Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI), CPE includes a formal name format, a method for checking names against a system, and a description format for binding text and tests to a name.

The CPE Product Dictionary provides an agreed upon list of official CPE names. The dictionary is provided in XML format and is available to the general public. The CPE Dictionary is hosted and maintained at NIST, may be used by nongovernmental organizations on a voluntary basis, and is not subject to copyright in the United States.

CPE identifiers are commonly used to search for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) that affect the identified product.

Scheme format
CPE 2.3 follows this format, maintained by NIST:

The version of the CPE definition. The latest CPE definition version is 2.3.

May have 1 of 3 values:


 * 1)   for Applications
 * 2)   for Hardware
 * 3)   for Operating Systems

It is sometimes referred to as.

Values for this attribute SHOULD describe or identify the person or organization that manufactured or created the product. Values for this attribute SHOULD be selected from an attribute-specific valid-values list, which MAY be defined by other specifications that utilize this specification. Any character string meeting the requirements for WFNs (cf. 5.3.2) MAY be specified as the value of the attribute.

The name of the system/package/component. and  are sometimes identical. It can not contain spaces, slashes, or most special characters. An underscore should be used in place of whitespace characters.

The version of the system/package/component.

This is used for update or service pack information. Sometimes referred to as "point releases" or minor versions. The technical difference between  and   will be different for certain vendors and products. Common examples include,  ,  , and   (for General Availability), but it is most often left blank.

A further granularity describing the build of the system/package/component, beyond.

A valid language tag as defined by IETF RFC 4646 entitled "Tags for Identifying Languages". Examples include:  for US English, and   for Taiwanese Mandarin.

Examples
Here,  is used as a wildcard character: