CWE-308: Use of Single-factor Authentication
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Edit Custom FilterThe use of single-factor authentication can lead to unnecessary risk of compromise when compared with the benefits of a dual-factor authentication scheme.
While the use of multiple authentication schemes is simply piling on more complexity on top of authentication, it is inestimably valuable to have such measures of redundancy. The use of weak, reused, and common passwords is rampant on the internet. Without the added protection of multiple authentication schemes, a single mistake can result in the compromise of an account. For this reason, if multiple schemes are possible and also easy to use, they should be implemented and required.
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Example 1 In both of these examples, a user is logged in if their given password matches a stored password: (bad code)
Example Language: C
unsigned char *check_passwd(char *plaintext) {
ctext = simple_digest("sha1",plaintext,strlen(plaintext), ... ); }//Login if hash matches stored hash if (equal(ctext, secret_password())) { login_user(); }(bad code)
Example Language: Java
String plainText = new String(plainTextIn);
MessageDigest encer = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA"); encer.update(plainTextIn); byte[] digest = password.digest(); //Login if hash matches stored hash if (equal(digest,secret_password())) { login_user(); }This code relies exclusively on a password mechanism (CWE-309) using only one factor of authentication (CWE-308). If an attacker can steal or guess a user's password, they are given full access to their account. Note this code also uses SHA-1, which is a weak hash (CWE-328). It also does not use a salt (CWE-759). Note: this is a curated list of examples for users to understand the variety of ways in which this weakness can be introduced. It is not a complete list of all CVEs that are related to this CWE entry.
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