Broken Authentication Vulnerability: Key Risks, Impact, and Mitigation Tips

Quick Summary: When authentication is broken, it means there are loopholes in how users are authenticated, and web sessions are managed. Such loopholes can allow attackers to impersonate a user and perform unauthorized actions. Keep reading this article to get a thorough understanding of broken authentication vulnerabilities, how they occur, and ways to prevent it.

In today’s rapid development environment, developers often ship applications in a hurry to meet their deployment schedules. Result? Often these applications are met with various weaknesses and loopholes. And broken authentication is one of those weaknesses that cause serious trouble for organizations.

Authentication is an essential feature of applications that ensures only users with valid credentials can access protected data and resources. In broken authentication, this feature is either flawed or not properly implemented and enables unauthorized users to access protected data and resources.

In this blog, you will get complete information about broken authentication vulnerability, potential risks from this vulnerability, and ways to prevent it. So, keep the ball rolling for secure applications.

Don’t Let Authentication Vulnerabilities Cause a Data Breach and Spoil Your Reputation Perform a Scan

What is Broken Authentication and Session Management?

Broken authentication refers to the flaws in a web application’s authentication or session management mechanism. It means the mechanism that helps users authenticate themselves to access protected data and resources is not properly implemented.

Owing to this security flaw, any unauthorized user can access the protected data and resources. The flaw lies in the weak or improper implementation of the authentication process, session management, and weak password management.

Session management is a way to manage users’ interactions with an application over a period of time. It means it helps manage the state of a user’s data while interacting with the app. When this mechanism isn’t properly implemented, it leads to broken authentication.

An attacker can exploit this weakness to take over a user’s session and perform unauthorized actions which is generally known as session hijacking. In this case, the attacker can bypass the authentication process to gain access to an application posing as a legitimate user.

The worst part of the broken authentication vulnerability is that an attacker can penetrate deep into a system allowing him to launch an APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) attack. This vulnerability is among the OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities that are now considered under the identification and authentication failures category.

The ‘broken’ word denotes the compromised passwords, user IDs, and personal information due to ineffective credential and session management.

What are the Causes of Broken Authentication?

There are two mechanisms used for user authentication which include credentials and sessions. While credentials represent the usernames and passwords, web sessions track interactions between web applications and users. When one or both mechanisms are flawed or not properly implemented, attackers can obtain access to a user account. The following are some scenarios for authentication flaws.

• Web applications are susceptible to automated attacks like brute force and credential stuffing.
• Failing to use encryption properly or using weak techniques like base64 and weak hashing algorithms.
• Session timeout is not set properly and allows an attacker to hijack the session.
• Poor authentication features that enable users to perform certain functions anonymously.
• Multi-factor authentication is missing or not used effectively.
• Session IDs exposed in the URL will allow a bad actor to impersonate a user.
• Sessions are not handled appropriately like session IDs are not properly invalidated.

What are Some Broken Authentication Vulnerability Examples?

There are many broken authentication examples that help you understand the weaknesses that attackers take advantage of to steal data or hijack your application or system. Let’s see the top examples of broken authentication vulnerabilities below.

No Timeout for Sessions

A general security mistake that leads to broken authentication is not setting a timeout for sessions. Once a user logs in to an application, a session is started. But if the session remains active when a user is not online or his activity has stopped, this leaves room for exploitation. The session should expire after a certain period of inactivity. By setting the timeout for sessions, you can avoid the chances of an unauthorized user performing actions when the legitimate user leaves the device unattended, or an attacker takes over the session.

Not Using Multi-Layered Authentication

Applications that depend solely on passwords for user authentication are more susceptible to cyberattacks as attackers can use techniques like brute force to gain access to a user’s account. Enhanced security requires additional layers to prevent a data breach attempt even if an attacker has somehow cracked a user’s password.

Weak Password Protection

Passwords are crucial to cope with broken authentication and session management risks. When passwords are not properly salted and hashed, attackers can easily crack them to take over a user’s account. Salting involves adding a set of random characters in passwords before hashing. Once salted the password is hashed by converting the password into a fixed-length and unique string of characters.

Types of Broken Authentication Attacks

Authentication and session management flaws are responsible for a wide range of attacks.

Brute Force

It is a kind of trial-and-error method that attackers use to break into password-protected systems. It is one of the most prevalent tactics in data breaches. In this method, different combinations of passwords and usernames are used to access sensitive data. In the absence of proper authentication features in a web application, an attacker can use brute force to gain unauthorized access.

Session Hijacking

It is a kind of cyberattack where an attacker takes control of a user’s web session. Sessions are a secure way to ensure consistent communication between a user and a computer. A session ID or token is used to track this communication. When there is an authentication loophole, it is the cherry on top for attackers for a successful session hijacking attack.

Credential Stuffing

In this type of cyberattack, the attacker uses a combination of passwords and usernames stolen from other services. Typically, people use similar passwords and when a data breach occurs, they are exposed. Attackers can re-use those passwords for other web applications. When there is no proper validation for user inputs, attackers can easily breach security with stolen passwords and usernames.

Session Fixation

Web applications that fail to rotate session IDs are vulnerable to this type of attack. Using the same ID before and after user login enables an attacker to hijack the ongoing session and perform malicious activities.

Session ID in URL Rewrite

Often, session IDs are visible in the URLs of web applications. Attackers can see this through unsecured Wi-Fi connections, for example. They can exploit it to take control of a user’s session. Zoombombing is an excellent example of this type of cyberattack that enabled hackers to break into uninvited meetings.

Attackers can exploit session IDs visible in the URL to hijack users’ sessions. It will enable them to masquerade as a legitimate user causing financial loss and data theft.

Start Scanning Your Web Apps for OWASP Vulnerabilities and Beyond with 98.9% Accuracy Give It a Shot

Risk Associated with Broken Authentication Attacks

Let’s uncover the potential risks that occur due to broken authentication attacks. Read this thoroughly in order to create robust security measures for them.

Unauthorized Access

Attackers always look for weaker authentication mechanisms to obtain unauthorized access and misuse users’ or systems sensitive details. This can lead to unauthorized viewing, modification, or deletion of critical data.

Identity Theft

Attackers can steal users’ credentials and impersonate authenticated users. This can enable them to perform dangerous activities such as under the identity of legitimate users.

Financial Loss

Broken authentication attacks can make both users and organizations bear huge financial losses due to fraud, theft, or operational disruptions caused by compromised accounts and systems.

Regulatory and Legal Consequences

Non-compliance with data protection regulations and standards can lead to legal actions and hefty penalties. Businesses may face regulatory scrutiny and legal battles because of data breaches or inadequate security practices.

Operational Disruption

Attacks can create an adverse impact on regular business operations, causing downtime, loss of productivity, and added costs related to incident response and recovery.

Understanding the Impact of Broken Authentication Vulnerabilities

User authentication is a critical feature for web applications. Failing to implement it properly results in disastrous consequences for organizations and their customers. It could lead to identity theft and unauthorized transactions.

A data breach not only results in compromised information but also tarnishes the reputation of an organization. Further, the organization will also face legal actions due to data protection laws like GDPR. Besides, customers will also lose their confidence in you and could switch to competitors.

An attacker can obtain sensitive data like credit card details to perform unauthorized financial transactions. By getting access to privileged accounts, an attacker can also manipulate data or take full control of the targeted system.

How Can You Identify Broken User Authentication?

The consequences of a broken authentication can be severe for your organization because it can result in data exfiltration and account takeover. Hence, identifying and mitigating it is essential to protect your data and assets. The following are the methods you can use to identify broken authentication vulnerabilities.

Manual Pen Testing

You can leverage penetration testing to identify broken authentication and other OWASP vulnerabilities. It helps identify vulnerabilities by performing simulated attacks on a web application or API. However, this method requires technical expertise, and you will need to hire a professional ethical hacker to conduct pen testing.

Vulnerability Scanning

Another method you can use for identifying broken user authentication vulnerability is using an automated vulnerability scanning tool. It lets you discover broken authentication and session management vulnerabilities without any human intervention. Such a scanner can save time and make security teams more efficient in addressing security issues.

How Can You Prevent Broken Authentication?

Now that you know how authentication flaws can pose serious security risks, it’s time to understand the ways to prevent them. The following tips offer a solution for broken authentication.

Disallow Weak Passwords

Default and weak passwords are some of the most prominent issues organizations face regardless of their size and type. Unfortunately, it is one of the major causes of data breaches. In fact, according to Verizon’s 2021 data breach investigation report, 61% of data breaches happened due to stolen credentials. You should follow the NIST guidelines on strong passwords and reject common passwords.

Manage Sessions Effectively

One way you can enhance the security of your web application is by managing web sessions effectively. Make sure that a session ends properly after a certain period of inactivity or when the user logs out. It is recommended to customize the time of the session according to the type of application and users.

For example, a video streaming application like Netflix takes longer than a baking application. Since there is a high risk of session hijacking, banking applications must have a shorter length of session.

Use Multi-factor Authentication

You can make the authentication mechanism stronger with multi-factor authentication. With this functionality, users must pass through two or more verification steps to validate their access to a resource or application. It is a crucial component of the identify and access management (IAM) framework.

Invalidate Session IDs

Your web application should invalidate a session ID or authentication token as soon as a session ends. Similarly, a user should be assigned a new session ID after login. Handling the session IDs this way will prevent bad actors from gaining access to a legitimate user’s account.

Avoid Session IDs in URLs

URL rewriting can result in exposing session IDs. You can protect session IDs by avoiding them in URLs where they are visible and can be exploited by an attacker. Instead, you can use cookies to ensure secure sessions.

Use Alternate Authentication Methods

You can use strong authentication methods like OpenID or OAuth platforms to allow users to sign in to their accounts without login credentials. It can also benefit in the case of third-party integration.

Security Testing

It is a method to scan your web applications for potential security weaknesses and prevent cyberattacks. It can be automated with the help of a web app security scanner that will automatically scan and detect vulnerabilities. You can prevent a wide range of cyberattacks with this method including those that occur due to authentication flaws.

Follow the Least Privilege Principle

Implement role-based access control and follow the principle of least privilege. It will ensure that every user has only the minimum necessary access based on their roles. You can take it to another level by adopting a zero-trust architecture.

Ready for the Next Step in Web App Security with a Cutting-edge DAST Tool? Let’s Make It

How Can ZeroThreat Help?

As the saying goes “Prevention is better than cure”, it is also true in the case of cybersecurity. Identifying and remediating vulnerabilities is better than adding extra defenses to your digital assets. Here comes the role of vulnerability assessment, which is a process to identify, categorize, and remediate vulnerabilities to protect against cyberattacks.

You need a reliable security testing solution like ZeroThreat to discover and fix vulnerabilities within your web application. It can help you discover all kinds of vulnerabilities, whether they are listed in the OWASP Top 10 or require out-of-band security testing. It offers built-in threat intelligence and dozens of other amazing features to make security testing a breeze.

ZeroThreat is a next-gen Dynamic Application Security Testing Tool that helps you discover vulnerabilities in minutes. It offers fast vulnerability scanning speed and 98.9% accuracy. You can use it to find a myriad of security flaws, including broken authentication.

Let’s try ZeroThreat for free to explore its features and benefits.