CAPEC Definitions

    CAPEC Definitions / CAPEC-59

    CAPEC-59: Session Credential Falsification through Prediction

    This attack targets predictable session ID in order to gain privileges. The attacker can predict the session ID used during a transaction to perform spoofing and session hijacking.

    Severity:High
    Possibility:High

    Extended Description

    No Extended Description.

    Mitigations

    Use a strong source of randomness to generate a session ID.

    Use adequate length session IDs

    Do not use information available to the user in order to generate session ID (e.g., time).

    Ideas for creating random numbers are offered by Eastlake [RFC1750]

    Encrypt the session ID if you expose it to the user. For instance session ID can be stored in a cookie in encrypted format.

    Relationships with other CAPECs

    CAPEC-196: Session Credential Falsification through Forging

    Prerequisites

    The target host uses session IDs to keep track of the users.

    Session IDs are used to control access to resources.

    The session IDs used by the target host are predictable. For example, the session IDs are generated using predictable information (e.g., time).

    Related Weaknesses

    CWE-290: Authentication Bypass by Spoofing

    CWE-330: Use of Insufficiently Random Values

    CWE-331: Insufficient Entropy

    CWE-346: Origin Validation Error

    CWE-488: Exposure of Data Element to Wrong Session

    CWE-539: Use of Persistent Cookies Containing Sensitive Information

    CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

    CWE-6: J2EE Misconfiguration: Insufficient Session-ID Length

    CWE-285: Improper Authorization

    CWE-384: Session Fixation

    CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure