CWE-603

Use of Client-Side Authentication

Base

What it is

A client/server product performs authentication within client code but not in server code, allowing server-side authentication to be bypassed via a modified client that omits the authentication check.

Client-side authentication is extremely weak and may be breached easily. Any attacker may read the source code and reverse-engineer the authentication mechanism to access parts of the application which would otherwise be protected.

Impact

Access Control

Bypass Protection Mechanism, Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

Mitigations

[Architecture and Design] Do not rely on client side data. Always perform server side authentication.

Real-world CVE examples

CVE-2022-33139 — SCADA system only uses client-side authentication, allowing adversaries to impersonate other users.
CVE-2006-0230 — Client-side check for a password allows access to a server using crafted XML requests from a modified client.

Related weaknesses

CWE-1390 (childof)CWE-602 (childof)CWE-300 (peerof)CWE-656 (peerof)

Test & detect

Browse all common weaknesses, check related exploited CVEs, or map to ATT&CK techniques.

Source: MITRE CWE. View on cwe.mitre.org →