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Weakness · High

CWE-1393: Use of Default Password

What it is

The product uses default passwords for potentially critical functionality.

1 exploited in the wildMITRE CWE 4.19.1

Severity (our rating)
High
Likelihood of exploit
Not rated by MITRE
Introduced during
Architecture and Design
Exploited in the wild
1 known exploited CVE

In more detail

It is common practice for products to be designed to use default passwords for authentication. The rationale is to simplify the manufacturing process or the system administrator's task of installation and deployment into an enterprise. However, if admins do not change the defaults, then it makes it easier for attackers to quickly bypass authentication across multiple organizations. There are many lists of default passwords and default-password scanning tools that are easily available from the World Wide Web.

What an attacker can do

  • Gain Privileges or Assume Identity (Authentication)

How to prevent it

Requirements

  • Prohibit use of default, hard-coded, or other values that do not vary for each installation of the product - especially for separate organizations.

Documentation

  • Ensure that product documentation clearly emphasizes the presence of default passwords and provides steps for the administrator to change them.

Architecture and Design

  • Force the administrator to change the credential upon installation.

Installation

  • The product administrator could change the defaults upon installation or during operation.

CWE-1393 on MITRE's CWE site

Exploited in the wild: 1 CVE

Vulnerabilities caused by CWE-1393 that attackers have used, from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, newest first.

All known exploited vulnerabilities

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Source: MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration, CWE version 4.19.1. CWE is a trademark of The MITRE Corporation.