CWE 799

Improper Control of Interaction Frequency

Weakness ID: 799 (Weakness Class)

Status: Incomplete

Description

Description Summary

The software does not properly limit the number or frequency of interactions that it has with an actor, such as the number of incoming requests.

Extended Description

This can allow the actor to perform actions more frequently than expected. The actor could be a human or an automated process such as a virus or bot. This could be used to cause a denial of service, compromise program logic (such as limiting humans to a single vote), or other consequences. For example, an authentication routine might not limit the number of times an attacker can guess a password. Or, a web site might conduct a poll but only expect humans to vote a maximum of once a day.

Alternate Terms

Insufficient anti-automation:	The term "insufficient anti-automation" focuses primarly on non-human actors such as viruses or bots, but the scope of this CWE entry is broader.
Brute force:	Vulnerabilities that can be targeted using brute force attacks are often symptomatic of this weakness.

Time of Introduction

Architecture and Design
Implementation
Operation

Applicable Platforms

Languages

Language-independent

Weakness Ordinalities

Ordinality	Description
Primary	(where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)

Relationships

Nature	Type	ID	Name	View(s) this relationship pertains to
ChildOf	Category	438	Behavioral Problems	Development Concepts (primary)699
ChildOf	Weakness Class	691	Insufficient Control Flow Management	Research Concepts (primary)1000
ChildOf	Category	808	2010 Top 25 - Weaknesses On the Cusp	Weaknesses in the 2010 CWE/SANS Top 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors (primary)800
ParentOf	Weakness Base	307	Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts	Research Concepts1000