CWE-308

Base Abstraction Level
Pillar — Highest-level weakness category
Class — Abstract, language-independent
Base — Specific enough to detect
Variant — Tied to specific technology
Compound — Requires multiple weaknesses Draft MITRE CWE Status
Stable — Fully reviewed and complete
Draft — Under development, may change
Incomplete — Partially defined by MITRE
Deprecated — No longer recommended
Obsolete — Replaced by another CWE Exploit: High
Use of Single-factor Authentication

Description

The product uses an authentication algorithm that uses a single factor (e.g., a password) in a security context that should require more than one factor.

Consequences

Access Control — Bypass Protection Mechanism

If the secret in a single-factor authentication scheme gets compromised, full authentication is possible.

Mitigations

Phase: Architecture and Design

Use multiple independent authentication schemes, which ensures that -- if one of the methods is compromised -- the system itself is still likely safe from compromise. For this reason, if multiple schemes are possible, they should be implemented and required -- especially if they are easy to use.