Use Authentication Mechanisms, Where Appropriate, Correctly

Description

The following are frequent design defects that produce vulnerable systems:

• Using no authentication when it is required.

• Failure to understand the limitations of the authentication scheme or mechanism. For example, HTTP basic authentication authenticates the user, not the server.

• Failure to separate authentication and authorization.

• Designing passwords that are inherently weak and disallowing passwords that are strong. For example, a system that supports only eight-character passwords composed of alphanumeric characters is a poor design (something that many web sites do) [VU#243592].

• Using weak authentication based on untrustworthy attributes, such as network address information [VU#30308].

• Disabling a subsystem's built-in access controls through identity sharing. This is a common practice in web sites that use back-end databases.

• Failing to propagate authentication across a multi-tier application.

• Designing a secure container for secrets and then exposing the secrets outside the container. This has occurred in several implementations of smart cards.

Applicable Context

Missing, incomplete, or incorrect application of an authentication mechanism.

Impacts Being Mitigated

• Impact #1:

  • Minimally: The least impact of this vulnerability is unauthenticated access to computing resources.

  • Maximally: The greatest impact of this vulnerability depends on the nature of the computing resources. In the worst case, these resources control access to other resources, in which case the result is a complete loss of integrity for the system.

Security Policies to be Preserved

• Policy #1

  • Access to computing resources is granted only to authentic individuals.

References