OWASP Periodic Table of Vulnerabilities - Brute Force Session Identifier

Return to Periodic Table Working View

Root Cause Summary
Session tokens are generated in a predictable fashion or from a key space that is too small to prevent guessing a token in reasonable time. The application does not detect and prevent session brute forcing attempts.

Browser / Standards Solution
Define a new session management scheme which allows applications to force session identifiers to be linked to SSL/TLS sessions or client-side certificates, if available. Even if an attacker manages to guess an active session ID, the ID won't be usable except over the original negotiated SSL connection or a renegotiated SSL connection for which the client is able to provide the HTTP session ID on the first try. A session ID must not be valid over two currently active SSL connections at the same time.

Perimeter Solution
None

Generic Framework Solution
Ensure that session identifiers are created using a secure random algorithm, with enough entropy to make guessing infeasible during the average lifetime of a session. The framework should check that an active session does not already exist with the same ID as a newly generated session token before issuing the token.

The application should be configurable to tie session IDs to SSL sessions, tracking those sessions across renegotiations. Any token which is sent over an SSL connection that isn't currently tied to the token should be expired immediately and the associated session terminated or suspended until the client successfully reauthenticates.

The application should be configurable to tie session IDs to source IP addresses, and terminate/suspend any active session if subsequent requests originate from a different IP. The configuration should allow the setting to be enabled globally, or on a per-user or per-session basis. (Users may choose to "opt in" to the restriction if they know their IP address is unlikely to change during the session.)

The application should track the number of requests made with invalid/expired session IDs and alert or block requests based on a configurable rate limit. Malicious actors may be identified by source IP address, a combination of browser fingerprinting features, or other configurable fraud metrics.

Custom Framework Solution
None

Custom Code Solution
None

Discussion / Controversy
There are often perfectly legitimate reasons for a client IP to change during a session, including IP NAT pooling and short DHCP lease periods. A strict setting may only be appropriate for intranet applications or extremely high-security features.