Authentication Bypass

CWE-288, CWE-289, CWE-290, CWE-302, CWE-305

Vulnerabilities that allow bypassing authentication entirely

Real-World Attack Scenarios

Scenario 1: Alternate Path Bypass

Attacker accesses protected resource through different URL path:

Protected: /admin/dashboard
Bypass: /Admin/dashboard (case variation)
Bypass: /admin//dashboard (double slash)
Bypass: /admin/./dashboard (dot slash)
Bypass: /ADMIN/dashboard (uppercase)

Web server treats /admin/dashboard as protected and requires authentication. But /Admin/dashboard bypasses protection due to case-insensitive filesystem.

# Denied
curl http://example.com/admin/dashboard
# 401 Unauthorized

# Succeeds!
curl http://example.com/Admin/dashboard
# 200 OK - admin panel loads

Finding it: Try case variations, double slashes, URL encoding variations.

---

Scenario 2: Alternate Name Bypass

Authentication check looks for specific username format:

def check_admin_access(username):
    if username == 'admin':
        return True
    return False

Attacker uses alternate format:

admin123 (append number)
admin. (append dot)
admin (add space)
admin_backup
root (alternate admin name)
administrator

Some might pass:

curl http://example.com/admin -u "admin123:"
# If admin123 is assigned admin role, access granted

Finding it: Try username variations. Check if system has multiple admin accounts.

---

Scenario 3: Spoofing Bypass

Attacker impersonates trusted entity:

# Vulnerable - trusts X-Forwarded-For header
if request.headers.get('X-Forwarded-For') == 'trusted-ip':
    grant_admin_access()

Attacker simply sends the header:

curl http://example.com/admin \
  -H "X-Forwarded-For: 192.168.1.100"
# Access granted - spoofed IP!

Or by IP spoofing:

• Spoof source IP to appear as internal network

• Bypass IP-based authentication

Finding it: Try trusted headers (X-Forwarded-For, X-Real-IP). Test IP spoofing.

---

Scenario 4: Immutable Data Modification

Application assumes user ID can't change:

# Vulnerable - assumes user_id immutable
@app.route('/profile/<user_id>')
def get_profile(user_id):
    if not authenticated():
        return "Unauthorized"
    return get_user_data(user_id)

But attacker modifies their user_id between authentication and use:

# Authenticate as user 1
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer token1" http://example.com/profile/1
# Then modify user_id
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer token1" http://example.com/profile/999
# Access user 999's data with user 1's token!

Finding it: Check if IDs can be modified mid-request. Use race conditions.

---

Scenario 5: Weak Primary Authentication

Primary authentication weak, but assumed strong:

# Weak authentication - can be bypassed
if password == stored_hash:
    authenticated = True

# Then trusted for all operations
if authenticated:
    grant_admin_access()  # Assumes primary auth is strong

If primary auth (password check) is weak:

• Logic error

• Timing attack

• Default credentials

• SQL injection

Then attacker bypasses entire system.

Finding it: Test authentication mechanism thoroughly. Look for weaknesses in primary auth.

---

Mitigation Strategies

Normalize URLs

# Lowercase URLs
path = request.path.lower()

# Remove extra slashes
path = '/'.join(filter(None, path.split('/')))

# Decode URL encoding
from urllib.parse import unquote
path = unquote(path)

Strict authentication checks

# Check exact username, not similar
allowed_usernames = ['admin', 'administrator']
if username not in allowed_usernames:
    return "Unauthorized"

Never trust client headers for auth

# Bad
if request.headers.get('X-Forwarded-For') == 'trusted-ip':
    grant_access()

# Good
# Use server-verified IP from connection
client_ip = request.remote_addr
if client_ip in TRUSTED_INTERNAL_IPS:
    grant_access()

Validate immutable data

# Store user_id in session, don't accept from request
user_id = session['user_id']  # Not from URL parameter

Strong primary authentication

Ensure primary authentication is:

• Not bypassable

• Tested thoroughly

• Uses strong hashing

• Resistant to timing attacks

---

CWE - CWE-288: Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel (4.19.1)cwe.mitre.org

CWE - CWE-289: Authentication Bypass by Alternate Name (4.19)cwe.mitre.org

CWE - CWE-290: Authentication Bypass by Spoofing (4.19.1)cwe.mitre.org

CWE - CWE-302: Authentication Bypass by Assumed-Immutable Data (4.19)cwe.mitre.org

CWE - CWE-305: Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness (4.19)cwe.mitre.org