OWASP Top 10: Identification and Authentication Failures Quiz Quiz

Challenge your understanding of Identification and Authentication Failures as outlined in the OWASP Top 10, focusing on common pitfalls, attack scenarios, and remediation strategies in security testing. Strengthen your knowledge of secure authentication practices to mitigate risks in modern web applications.

1. Password Policy Vulnerabilities

   Which of the following weaknesses in a web application's password policy most closely leads to an Identification and Authentication Failure, such as allowing passwords like '123456'?

   1. Requiring users to change passwords every 30 days
   2. Allowing short or common passwords without enforcing complexity rules
   3. Enforcing multi-factor authentication for all users
   4. Disabling password auto-completion in forms

   Explanation: Allowing short or commonly used passwords makes user accounts vulnerable to credential stuffing and brute-force attacks, directly causing Identification and Authentication Failures. Requiring users to change their passwords frequently may lead to other usability issues but does not directly weaken password strength. Enforcing multi-factor authentication actually improves security by strengthening authentication processes. Disabling password auto-completion does not address password quality or prevent weak passwords from being set.

2. Session Management Scenario

   If a web application fails to properly invalidate session tokens after logout, what type of problem could an attacker exploit?

   1. Session fixation
   2. SQL injection
   3. XSS vulnerability
   4. Denial of Service

   Explanation: Failure to properly invalidate session tokens allows attackers to reuse or hijack valid sessions, which is a classic example of a session fixation vulnerability falling under identification and authentication failures. SQL injection and XSS are unrelated code injection threats, not directly tied to session management. Denial of Service attacks exploit resource consumption, not session integrity or authentication states.

3. Brute Force Protection

   Which of the following controls is essential to prevent attackers from guessing user passwords by repeatedly attempting logins on a web application's authentication form?

   1. Implementing account lockout after several failed attempts
   2. Displaying more detailed error messages on failed logins
   3. Allowing unlimited password reset requests
   4. Storing passwords in plain text

   Explanation: Account lockout mechanisms limit the number of failed login attempts, thus mitigating brute-force and enumeration attacks that could exploit authentication weaknesses. Displaying detailed error messages might actually reveal information useful to attackers. Allowing unlimited password reset requests could enable denial-of-service or social engineering attacks but does not directly protect against brute force, and storing passwords in plain text is a severe security flaw that exposes credentials if data is compromised.

4. Multi-Factor Authentication Benefits

   In which scenario does enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) most effectively reduce the risk of Identification and Authentication Failures?

   1. When users reuse their passwords from other sites that have been breached
   2. When there is a bug in the application's comment form
   3. When the database encryption uses outdated algorithms
   4. When CSS file paths are misconfigured

   Explanation: MFA requires an extra form of verification, reducing risk if a user's password is compromised through breaches elsewhere and then reused. Bugs in comment forms, outdated encryption algorithms, and CSS path misconfigurations do not relate directly to authentication failures and are not mitigated by MFA. MFA addresses issues arising from credentials (like reused passwords), not from unrelated software vulnerabilities or static file configurations.

5. Password Storage Practices

   Why is it crucial for a web application to store user passwords using a secure, salted hash instead of plain text?

   1. To prevent loss of user interface elements
   2. To limit the length of accepted passwords
   3. To protect passwords if the credential store is accessed by attackers
   4. To provide faster authentication performance

   Explanation: Storing passwords as salted hashes ensures that, even if attackers access the stored credentials, the actual passwords remain protected, mitigating identification and authentication failures. Loss of interface elements and limiting password length are unrelated to secure storage practices. While hashing may affect performance slightly, its main purpose is not speed but security, and plain text storage is fundamentally insecure.