CAPEC-70 Metadata
Likelihood of Attack
Medium
Typical Severity
High
Overview
Summary
An adversary may try certain common or default usernames and passwords to gain access into the system and perform unauthorized actions. An adversary may try an intelligent brute force using empty passwords, known vendor default credentials, as well as a dictionary of common usernames and passwords. Many vendor products come preconfigured with default (and thus well-known) usernames and passwords that should be deleted prior to usage in a production environment. It is a common mistake to forget to remove these default login credentials. Another problem is that users would pick very simple (common) passwords (e.g. "secret" or "password") that make it easier for the attacker to gain access to the system compared to using a brute force attack or even a dictionary attack using a full dictionary.
Prerequisites
The system uses one factor password based authentication.The adversary has the means to interact with the system.
Potential Solutions / Mitigations
Delete all default account credentials that may be put in by the product vendor. Implement a password throttling mechanism. This mechanism should take into account both the IP address and the log in name of the user. Put together a strong password policy and make sure that all user created passwords comply with it. Alternatively automatically generate strong passwords for users. Passwords need to be recycled to prevent aging, that is every once in a while a new password must be chosen.
Related Weaknesses (CWE)
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-262 | Not Using Password Aging |
| CWE-263 | Password Aging with Long Expiration |
| CWE-308 | Use of Single-factor Authentication |
| CWE-309 | Use of Password System for Primary Authentication |
| CWE-521 | Weak Password Requirements |
| CWE-654 | Reliance on a Single Factor in a Security Decision |
| CWE-798 | Use of Hard-coded Credentials |
Related CAPECs
| CAPEC ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CAPEC-49 | An adversary tries every possible value for a password until they succeed. A brute force attack, if feasible computationally, will always be successful because it will essentially go through all possible passwords given the alphabet used (lower case letters, upper case letters, numbers, symbols, etc.) and the maximum length of the password. |
| CAPEC-151 | Identity Spoofing refers to the action of assuming (i.e., taking on) the identity of some other entity (human or non-human) and then using that identity to accomplish a goal. An adversary may craft messages that appear to come from a different principle or use stolen / spoofed authentication credentials. |
| CAPEC-560 | An adversary guesses or obtains (i.e. steals or purchases) legitimate credentials (e.g. userID/password) to achieve authentication and to perform authorized actions under the guise of an authenticated user or service. |
| CAPEC-561 | An adversary guesses or obtains (i.e. steals or purchases) legitimate Windows administrator credentials (e.g. userID/password) to access Windows Admin Shares on a local machine or within a Windows domain. |
| CAPEC-600 | An adversary tries known username/password combinations against different systems, applications, or services to gain additional authenticated access. Credential Stuffing attacks rely upon the fact that many users leverage the same username/password combination for multiple systems, applications, and services. |
| CAPEC-653 | An adversary guesses or obtains (i.e. steals or purchases) legitimate operating system credentials (e.g. userID/password) to achieve authentication and to perform authorized actions on the system, under the guise of an authenticated user or service. This applies to any Operating System. |
Taxonomy Mappings
Taxonomy: ATTACK
| Entry ID | Entry Name |
|---|---|
| 1078.001 | Valid Accounts:Default Accounts |
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