CWE-287: Improper Authentication
Description
When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.
- Abstraction
- ClassAn abstract weakness, independent of any specific language or technology.
- Likelihood of exploit
- High
- Status
- Draft
Common consequences
- IntegrityConfidentialityAvailabilityAccess Control
Read Application Data; Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
This weakness can lead to the exposure of resources or functionality to unintended actors, possibly providing attackers with sensitive information or even execute arbitrary code.
Potential mitigations
- Architecture and DesignLibraries or Frameworks
Use an authentication framework or library such as the OWASP ESAPI Authentication feature.
Related weaknesses
CAPEC attack patterns that exploit it
- CAPEC-22Exploiting Trust in Client
- CAPEC-57Utilizing REST's Trust in the System Resource to Obtain Sensitive Data
- CAPEC-94Adversary in the Middle (AiTM)
- CAPEC-114Authentication Abuse
- CAPEC-115Authentication Bypass
- CAPEC-151Identity Spoofing
- CAPEC-194Fake the Source of Data
- CAPEC-593Session Hijacking
- CAPEC-633Token Impersonation
- CAPEC-650Upload a Web Shell to a Web Server