OWASP Top Ten 2004 Category A3 - Broken Authentication and Session Management

A category in the Common Weakness Enumeration published by The MITRE Corporation.


Summary

Categories in the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) group entries based on some common characteristic or attribute.

Weaknesses in this category are related to the A3 category in the OWASP Top Ten 2004.

Weaknesses

Authentication Bypass by Assumed-Immutable Data

The authentication scheme or implementation uses key data elements that are assumed to be immutable, but can be controlled or modified by the attacker.

Improper Authentication

When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.

Improper Following of a Certificate's Chain of Trust

The product does not follow, or incorrectly follows, the chain of trust for a certificate back to a trusted root certificate, resulting in incorrect trust of any resou...

Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts

The product does not implement sufficient measures to prevent multiple failed authentication attempts within a short time frame, making it more susceptible to brute fo...

Improper Validation of Certificate Expiration

A certificate expiration is not validated or is incorrectly validated, so trust may be assigned to certificates that have been abandoned due to age.

Insufficient Session Expiration

According to WASC, "Insufficient Session Expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session IDs for authorization."

Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity

The product does not sufficiently verify the origin or authenticity of data, in a way that causes it to accept invalid data.

Insufficiently Protected Credentials

The product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.

Missing Critical Step in Authentication

The product implements an authentication technique, but it skips a step that weakens the technique.

Session Fixation

Authenticating a user, or otherwise establishing a new user session, without invalidating any existing session identifier gives an attacker the opportunity to steal au...

Unverified Password Change

When setting a new password for a user, the product does not require knowledge of the original password, or using another form of authentication.

Use of Hard-coded Credentials

The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to exter...

Use of Hard-coded Password

The product contains a hard-coded password, which it uses for its own inbound authentication or for outbound communication to external components.

Use of Password System for Primary Authentication

The use of password systems as the primary means of authentication may be subject to several flaws or shortcomings, each reducing the effectiveness of the mechanism.

Use of Web Browser Cache Containing Sensitive Information

The web application does not use an appropriate caching policy that specifies the extent to which each web page and associated form fields should be cached.

Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password

The product contains a mechanism for users to recover or change their passwords without knowing the original password, but the mechanism is weak.

Weak Password Requirements

The product does not require that users should have strong passwords, which makes it easier for attackers to compromise user accounts.

Categories

Credentials Management Errors

Weaknesses in this category are related to the management of credentials.

Concepts

Deprecated or Obsolete

Weaknesses in OWASP Top Ten (2004)

CWE entries in this view (graph) are associated with the OWASP Top Ten, as released in 2004, and as required for compliance with PCI DSS version 1.1. This view is cons...

See Also

  1. A3 Broken Authentication and Session Management

    OWASP


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