CWE-759: Use of a One-Way Hash without a Salt

Description

The product uses a one-way cryptographic hash against an input that should not be reversible, such as a password, but the product does not also use a salt as part of the input.

This makes it easier for attackers to pre-compute the hash value using dictionary attack techniques such as rainbow tables. It should be noted that, despite common perceptions, the use of a good salt with a hash does not sufficiently increase the effort for an attacker who is targeting an individual password, or who has a large amount of computing resources available, such as with cloud-based services or specialized, inexpensive hardware. Offline password cracking can still be effective if the hash function is not expensive to compute; many cryptographic functions are designed to be efficient and can be vulnerable to attacks using massive computing resources, even if the hash is cryptographically strong. The use of a salt only slightly increases the computing requirements for an attacker compared to other strategies such as adaptive hash functions. See CWE-916 for more details.

Potential Impact

Demonstrative Examples

unsigned char *check_passwd(char *plaintext) {ctext = simple_digest("sha1",plaintext,strlen(plaintext), ... );
                        //Login if hash matches stored hash
                        if (equal(ctext, secret_password())) {login_user();}}

String plainText = new String(plainTextIn);MessageDigest encer = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA");encer.update(plainTextIn);byte[] digest = password.digest();
                     //Login if hash matches stored hash
                     if (equal(digest,secret_password())) {login_user();}

def storePassword(userName,Password):hasher = hashlib.new('md5')hasher.update(Password)hashedPassword = hasher.digest()
                        
                        # UpdateUserLogin returns True on success, False otherwise
                        return updateUserLogin(userName,hashedPassword)

def storePassword(userName,Password):hasher = hashlib.new('md5',b'SaltGoesHere')hasher.update(Password)hashedPassword = hasher.digest()
                        
                        # UpdateUserLogin returns True on success, False otherwise
                        return updateUserLogin(userName,hashedPassword)

Mitigations & Prevention

Detection Methods

• Automated Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode SOAR Partial — According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful:
• Manual Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode SOAR Partial — According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful:
• Manual Static Analysis - Source Code High — According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful:
• Automated Static Analysis - Source Code High — According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful:
• Automated Static Analysis SOAR Partial — According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful:
• Architecture or Design Review High — According to SOAR [REF-1479], the following detection techniques may be useful:

Real-World CVE Examples

Related Weaknesses