Top 10 2014-I1 Insecure Web Interface

Back To The Internet of Things Top 10

Consider anyone who has access to the web interface including internal and external users.

Attacker uses weak credentials, captures plain-text credentials or enumerates accounts to access the web interface. Attack could come from external or internal users.

An insecure web interface can be present when issues such as account enumeration, lack of account lockout or weak credenitals are present. Insecure web interfaces are prevalent as the intent is to have these interfaces exposed only on internal networks, however threats from the internal users can be just as significant as threats from external users. Issues with the web interface are easy to discover when examining the interface manually along with automated testing tools to identify other issues such as cross-site scripting.

Insecure web interfaces can result in data loss or corruption, lack of accountability, or denial of access and can lead to complete device takeover.

Consider the business impact of poorly secured web interfaces that could lead to compromised devices along with compromised customers. Could your customers be harmed? Could your brand be harmed?

Checking for an Insecure Web Interface includes:
 * Determining if the default username and password can be changed during initial product setup
 * Determining if a specific user account is locked out after 3 - 5 failed login attempts
 * Determining if valid accounts can be identified using password recovery mechanisms or new user pages


 * Manual testing can help a security analyst find instances where weak passwords are allowed, default credentials are not required to be changed or account enumeration is possible. Testing can validate these issues by enumerating usernames and conducting brute-force attacks against those usernames.


 * Automated scanning can also reveal issues such as cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery and sql injection.

A secure web interface requires:
 * 1) Default passwords and ideally default usernames to be changed during initial setup
 * 2) Ensuring password recovery mechanisms are robust and do not supply an attacker with information indicating a valid account
 * 3) Ensuring web interface is not susceptible to XSS, SQLi or CSRF
 * 4) Ensuring credentials are not exposed in internal or external network traffic
 * 5) Ensuring weak passwords are not allowed
 * 6) Ensuring account lockout after 3 -5 failed login attempts

Scenario #1: The web interface uses easily guessable default usernames and passwords.

Username = Admin; Password = password

Scenario #2: Username and password in the clear over the network. http://xyz.com/index.php?user= alert(123) ... Response from browser is an alert popup. In the cases above, the attacker is able to easily guess the username and password or is able to use XSS.