CWE-309
Use of Password System for Primary Authentication
Common consequences1
- Access ControlBypass Protection MechanismGain Privileges or Assume Identity
A password authentication mechanism error will almost always result in attackers being authorized as valid users.
Potential mitigations6
- Architecture and Design
In order to protect password systems from compromise, the following should be noted: Passwords should be stored safely to prevent insider attack and to ensure that -- if a system is compromised -- the passwords are not retrievable. Due to password reuse, this information may be useful in the compromise of other systems these users work with. In order to protect these passwords, they should be stored encrypted, in a non-reversible state, such that the original text password cannot be extracted from the stored value. Password aging should be strictly enforced to ensure that passwords do not remain unchanged for long periods of time. The longer a password remains in use, the higher the probability that it has been compromised. For this reason, passwords should require refreshing periodically, and users should be informed of the risk of passwords which remain in use for too long. Password strength should be enforced intelligently. Rather than restrict passwords to specific content, or specific length, users should be encouraged to use upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols in their passwords. The system should also ensure that no passwords are derived from dictionary words.
- Architecture and Design
Use a zero-knowledge password protocol, such as SRP.
- Architecture and Design
Ensure that passwords are stored safely and are not reversible.
- Architecture and Design
Implement password aging functionality that requires passwords be changed after a certain point.
- Architecture and Design
Use a mechanism for determining the strength of a password and notify the user of weak password use.
- Architecture and Design
Inform the user of why password protections are in place, how they work to protect data integrity, and why it is important to heed their warnings.
CVEs referencing this CWE3
| CVE | Description | Severity | EPSS | Flags | Modified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-44300 | OpenCost provides cost monitoring for Kubernetes workloads and cloud costs. Prior to 1.121.0, the POST /serviceKey endpoint in pkg/costmodel/router.go allows a network client to invoke AddServiceKey without mandatory authentication and submit an arbitrary key form value that is written to the GCP service-account key.json file returned by GetGCPAuthSecretFilePath in core/pkg/env/core.go. The attacker controls the file contents but not the CONFIG_PATH-derived directory, the key.json filename, or the file mode. Replacing the credential contents can disrupt GCP cost collection or cause OpenCost to use attacker-selected credentials, and the wildcard Access-Control-Allow-Origin response permits browser-assisted requests when the service is reachable from a browser. This issue is fixed in version 1.121.0. | NONE | 0.75%p55 | 2026-09-30 | |
| CVE-2021-41113 | TYPO3 is an open source PHP based web content management system released under the GNU GPL. It has been discovered that the new TYPO3 v11 feature that allows users to create and share deep links in the backend user interface is vulnerable to cross-site-request-forgery. The impact is the same as described in TYPO3-CORE-SA-2020-006 (CVE-2020-11069). However, it is not limited to the same site context and does not require the attacker to be authenticated. In a worst case scenario, the attacker could create a new admin user account to compromise the system. To successfully carry out an attack, an attacker must trick his victim to access a compromised system. The victim must have an active session in the TYPO3 backend at that time. The following Same-Site cookie settings in $GLOBALS[TYPO3_CONF_VARS][BE][cookieSameSite] are required for an attack to be successful: SameSite=strict: malicious evil.example.org invoking TYPO3 application at good.example.org and SameSite=lax or none: malicious evil.com invoking TYPO3 application at example.org. Update your instance to TYPO3 version 11.5.0 which addresses the problem described. | HIGH8.8 | 0.64%p51 | 2026-06-17 | |
| CVE-2024-45675 | IBM Informix Dynamic Server 14.10 could allow a local user on the system to log into the Informix server as administrator without a password. | HIGH7.8 | 0.12%p2 | 2026-09-26 |