CWE-640: Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password
It is common for an application to have a mechanism that provides a means for a user to gain access to their account in the event they forget their password. Very often the password recovery mechanism is weak, which has the effect of making it more likely that it would be possible for a person other than the legitimate system user to gain access to that user's account. Weak password recovery schemes completely undermine a strong password authentication scheme.
This weakness may be that the security question is too easy to guess or find an answer to (e.g. because the question is too common, or the answers can be found using social media). Or there might be an implementation weakness in the password recovery mechanism code that may for instance trick the system into e-mailing the new password to an e-mail account other than that of the user. There might be no throttling done on the rate of password resets so that a legitimate user can be denied service by an attacker if an attacker tries to recover their password in a rapid succession. The system may send the original password to the user rather than generating a new temporary password. In summary, password recovery functionality, if not carefully designed and implemented can often become the system's weakest link that can be misused in a way that would allow an attacker to gain unauthorized access to the system.
Modes of Introduction
Phase | Note |
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Architecture and Design | COMMISSION: This weakness refers to an incorrect design related to an architectural security tactic. |
Implementation |
Applicable Platforms
Type | Class | Name | Prevalence |
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Language | Not Language-Specific |
Relationships
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
The Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPECâ„¢) effort provides a publicly available catalog of common attack patterns that helps users understand how adversaries exploit weaknesses in applications and other cyber-enabled capabilities.
CAPEC at Mitre.orgCVEs Published
CVSS Severity
CVSS Severity - By Year
CVSS Base Score
# CVE | Description | CVSS | EPSS | EPSS Trend (30 days) | Affected Products | Weaknesses | Security Advisories | Exploits | PoC | Pubblication Date | Modification Date |
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# CVE | Description | CVSS | EPSS | EPSS Trend (30 days) | Affected Products | Weaknesses | Security Advisories | PoC | Pubblication Date | Modification Date |