Weakness · High
CWE-620: Unverified Password Change
What it is
When setting a new password for a user, the product does not require knowledge of the original password, or using another form of authentication.
- Severity (our rating)
- High
- Likelihood of exploit
- Not rated by MITRE
- Introduced during
- Architecture and Design, Implementation
- Exploited in the wild
- No CVE in CISA's catalog
In more detail
This could be used by an attacker to change passwords for another user, thus gaining the privileges associated with that user.
What an attacker can do
- Bypass Protection Mechanism (Access Control)
- Gain Privileges or Assume Identity (Access Control)
How to prevent it
Architecture and Design
- When prompting for a password change, force the user to provide the original password in addition to the new password.
- Do not use "forgotten password" functionality. But if you must, ensure that you are only providing information to the actual user, e.g. by using an email address or challenge question that the legitimate user already provided in the past; do not allow the current user to change this identity information until the correct password has been provided.
H2 Security
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Start freeSource: MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration, CWE version 4.19.1. CWE is a trademark of The MITRE Corporation.