CWE-602 - Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security

CWE ID:

CWE-602

Medium

Abstraction:Class
Structure:Simple
Status:Draft

Release Date:2007-05-07
Latest Modification Date:2023-06-29

Weakness Name

Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security

Description

The product is composed of a server that relies on the client to implement a mechanism that is intended to protect the server.

When the server relies on protection mechanisms placed on the client side, an attacker can modify the client-side behavior to bypass the protection mechanisms, resulting in potentially unexpected interactions between the client and server. The consequences will vary, depending on what the mechanisms are trying to protect.

Common Consequences

Scope: Access Control, Availability

Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism, DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

Notes: Client-side validation checks can be easily bypassed, allowing malformed or unexpected input to pass into the application, potentially as trusted data. This may lead to unexpected states, behaviors and possibly a resulting crash.

Scope: Access Control

Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism, Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

Notes: Client-side checks for authentication can be easily bypassed, allowing clients to escalate their access levels and perform unintended actions.