CWE-940 — Improper Verification of Source of a Communication Channel
CWE-940: Improper Verification of Source of a Communication Channel
MITRE CWE weakness
| Kind | Weakness |
| Abstraction | Base |
| Status | Incomplete |
| Likelihood of exploit | — |
Description
The product establishes a communication channel to handle an incoming request that has been initiated by an actor, but it does not properly verify that the request is coming from the expected origin.
When an attacker can successfully establish a communication channel from an untrusted origin, the attacker may be able to gain privileges and access unexpected functionality.
Common consequences
- Access Control, Other: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity, Varies by Context, Bypass Protection Mechanism
Mitigations
Architecture and Design — Use a mechanism that can validate the identity of the source, such as a certificate, and validate the integrity of data to ensure that it cannot be modified in transit using an Adversary-in-the-Middle (AITM) attack. When designing functionality of actions in the URL scheme, consider whether the action should be accessible to all mobile applications, or if an allowlist of applications to interface with is appropriate.
References
- CWE page: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/940.html
- CWE list: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/index.html