CyberSecBulletin

Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality

CWE-306

The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.

We track 2,227 vulnerabilities of this type. 100% are rated high or critical, and the average CVSS score is 8.8. 54 have been exploited in real attacks.

How this weakness is prevented

  • Architecture and Design: For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks entirely. Then, these modified values would be submitted to the server.
  • Architecture and Design: Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid. For example, consider using libraries with authentication capabilities such as OpenSSL or the ESAPI Authenticator.
  • Implementation System Configuration Operation: When storing data in the cloud (e.g., S3 buckets, Azure blobs, Google Cloud Storage, etc.), use the provider's controls to require strong authentication for users who should be allowed to access the data.

Latest Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality vulnerabilities