Session Credential Falsification through Forging
Attack Pattern ID: 196 (Standard Attack Pattern Completeness: Stub)Typical Severity: MediumStatus: Draft
+ Description

Summary

An attacker creates a session credential in order to gain or usurp access to a service. Session credentials allow users to identify themselves to a service after an initial authentication without needing to resend the authentication information (usually a username and password) with every message. If an attacker is able to forge valid session credentials they may be able to bypass authentication or piggy-back off some other authenticated user's session. This attack differs from Reuse of Session IDs and Session Sidejacking attacks in that in the latter attacks an attacker uses a previous or existing credential without modification while, in a forging attack, the attacker must create their own credential, although it may be based on previously observed credentials.

+ Attack Prerequisites

The targeted application must use session credentials to identify legitimate users.

+ Resources Required

Attackers may require tools to craft messages containing their forged credentials.

+ Related Weaknesses
CWE-IDWeakness NameWeakness Relationship Type
384Session FixationTargeted
+ Related Attack Patterns
NatureTypeIDNameDescriptionView(s) this relationship pertains toView\(s\)
ChildOfAttack PatternAttack Pattern21Exploitation of Session Variables, Resource IDs and other Trusted Credentials 
Mechanism of Attack (primary)1000
CanPrecedeAttack PatternAttack Pattern61Session Fixation

In a Session Fixation attack, the attacker provides a credential and coerces a user into using that credential when authenticating with the server. If the format of credentials is anything but trivial, the attacker would need to forge a valid-looking credential first.

Mechanism of Attack1000
ParentOfAttack PatternAttack Pattern59Session Credential Falsification through Prediction 
Mechanism of Attack (primary)1000
ParentOfAttack PatternAttack Pattern226Session Credential Falsification through Manipulation 
Mechanism of Attack (primary)1000