CWE-620

What is CWE-620 (Unverified Password Change)?

The product allows a user to change their password without verifying the current password, enabling unauthorized password modifications.

Vulnerability Insights

Unverified Password Change (CWE-620) represents a security risk across modern software systems. This weakness enables attackers to exploit authentication flaws, potentially leading to unauthorized access, data exfiltration, or system compromise. Organizations should implement defense-in-depth strategies combining static analysis, runtime monitoring, and binary analysis.

Impact on Systems

• Horizontal Privilege Escalation: Accessing other users' resources
• Vertical Privilege Escalation: Gaining administrative capabilities

Real-World Attack Scenario

The attacker logs in as a standard user and intercepts the HTTP traffic. They observe that object identifiers (like user IDs or document IDs) are passed sequentially. By incrementing or modifying the ID in subsequent requests, they access resources belonging to other users or administrators because the server fails to verify authorization context.

Code Examples

Vulnerable Implementation

// VULNERABLE: Object-level access check missing
function getProfile(userId) {
    return db.find(userId);
}

Secure Alternative

// SECURE: Verifies caller owns the object
function getProfile(userId, activeSession) {
    if (activeSession.id !== userId && !activeSession.isAdmin) throw "Unauthorized";
    return db.find(userId);
}

Detection with Precogs AI

Precogs AI identifies unverified password change patterns through automated binary and source code analysis, detecting CWE-620 weaknesses before they reach production. Our analysis engine examines compiled artifacts without requiring source code access, identifying CWE-620 patterns in vendor software, containers, firmware, and third-party libraries.

Remediation

Implement proper authentication controls following secure coding guidelines. Use automated scanning tools like Precogs AI to continuously monitor for CWE-620 vulnerabilities. Apply the principle of least privilege and validate all inputs from untrusted sources.