Maturity: Address Object

Maturity Spectrum Rationale

Semantic Consensus: Medium

The biggest existing issue with the Address Object is that it attempts to abstract multiple types of addresses (IPv4, IPv6, MAC, Email, etc.) into a single type. Accordingly, when this Object is used in other Objects (like the Network Connection Object), it means that any of these address types can be used in the field where it is used, which is semantically flawed. Thus, one way of fixing this would be to break up the Address Object into several atomic Objects, as discussed here.

Semantic Completeness: Medium

Depending on the targeted use by CybOX producers and consumers, certain address types could have additional fields or be broken into their constituent elements. For example, ATM addresses have switch identifier, MAC address, and selector components.

Existing Use: High

The Address Object is one of the most widely used CybOX Objects, due to the ubiquity of network addresses in the cyber domain.