Weakness · High
CWE-940: Improper Verification of Source of a Communication Channel
What it is
The product establishes a communication channel to handle an incoming request that has been initiated by an actor, but it does not properly verify that the request is coming from the expected origin.
- Severity (our rating)
- High
- Likelihood of exploit
- Not rated by MITRE
- Introduced during
- Architecture and Design, Implementation
- Exploited in the wild
- 2 known exploited CVEs
In more detail
When an attacker can successfully establish a communication channel from an untrusted origin, the attacker may be able to gain privileges and access unexpected functionality.
What an attacker can do
- Gain Privileges or Assume Identity (Access Control, Other)
- Varies by Context (Access Control, Other)
- Bypass Protection Mechanism (Access Control, Other)
How to prevent it
Architecture and Design
- Use a mechanism that can validate the identity of the source, such as a certificate, and validate the integrity of data to ensure that it cannot be modified in transit using an Adversary-in-the-Middle (AITM) attack. When designing functionality of actions in the URL scheme, consider whether the action should be accessible to all mobile applications, or if an allowlist of applications to interface with is appropriate.
Exploited in the wild: 2 CVEs
Vulnerabilities caused by CWE-940 that attackers have used, from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, newest first.
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.