Home/CWE/Improper Authentication
Weakness

Improper Authentication

CWE-287 · Class · Draft

When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.

△

Weakness Relationships

Where this weakness sits in the CWE hierarchy. Walk up to broader classes or down to more specific variants.
Parent of this (broader)
ChildOfCWE-284 · Improper Access Control
Children (more specific)
ParentOfCWE-1390 · Weak Authentication
ParentOfCWE-290 · Authentication Bypass by Spoofing
ParentOfCWE-294 · Authentication Bypass by Capture-replay
ParentOfCWE-295 · Improper Certificate Validation
ParentOfCWE-306 · Missing Authentication for Critical Function
ParentOfCWE-307 · Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts
ParentOfCWE-521 · Weak Password Requirements
ParentOfCWE-522 · Insufficiently Protected Credentials
ParentOfCWE-640 · Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password
ParentOfCWE-645 · Overly Restrictive Account Lockout Mechanism
ParentOfCWE-798 · Use of Hard-coded Credentials
◆

Attack Patterns (CAPEC)

10
How adversaries exploit this weakness, per MITRE CAPEC.
CAPEC-114Authentication Abuse
CAPEC-115Authentication Bypass
CAPEC-151Identity Spoofing
CAPEC-194Fake the Source of Data
CAPEC-22Exploiting Trust in Client
CAPEC-57Utilizing REST's Trust in the System Resource to Obtain Sensitive Data
CAPEC-593Session Hijacking
CAPEC-633Token Impersonation
CAPEC-650Upload a Web Shell to a Web Server
CAPEC-94Adversary in the Middle (AiTM)
⚠

CVEs With This Weakness

4,755
A sample of the 4,755 CVEs tagged with this weakness.
CVECVE-2026-8737
CVECVE-2026-8621
CVECVE-2026-8321
CVECVE-2026-8305
CVECVE-2026-8244
CVECVE-2026-8216
CVECVE-2026-8214
CVECVE-2026-8185
CVECVE-2026-8181
CVECVE-2026-8031
CVECVE-2026-7844
CVECVE-2026-7723
◉

Nuclei Scanner Templates

30
Open-source Nuclei templates that detect this weakness class - an actionable scan-for-it pivot. Licensed under the ProjectDiscovery / Nuclei terms.
criticalAcronis Cyber Infrastructure - Default Password
criticalETQ Reliance - Authentication Bypass via Trailing Space
criticalCisco ISE - Remote Code Execution
criticalKentico Xperience 13 CMS - Staging Service Authentication Bypass (WT-2025-0011)
criticalRestroPress 3.0.0-3.2.1 - Authentication Bypass
criticalWP Directory Kit <= 1.4.4 - Authentication Bypass
criticalPAN-OS Management Interface - Path Confusion to Authentication Bypass
criticalCrushFTP - Authentication Bypass
criticalNext.js Middleware Bypass
criticalFOGProject <= 1.5.10.1673 - Authentication Bypass
criticalKentico Xperience 13 CMS - Staging Service Authentication Bypass (WT-2025-0006)
criticalVMware Workspace ONE Access - Authentication Bypass
criticalFortinet - Authentication Bypass
criticalMSNSwitch Firmware MNT.2408 - Authentication Bypass
criticalVMware - Local File Inclusion
criticalRWS WorldServer - Authentication Bypass
criticalZyxel - Authentication Bypass
criticalSophos Firewall <=18.5 MR3 - Remote Code Execution
criticalVMware Workspace ONE Access/Identity Manager/vRealize Automation - Authentication Bypass
criticalWordPress tagDiv Composer < 3.5 - Authentication Bypass
criticalCrestron Device - Credentials Disclosure
criticalAtlassian Jira Seraph - Authentication Bypass
criticaliSpy 7.2.2.0 - Authentication Bypass
criticalTenda 11N - Authentication Bypass
criticalZimaOS - Authentication Bypass
criticalIBM Data Risk Manager - Authentication Bypass via SAML
criticalSolarWinds Orion API - Auth Bypass
criticalMagento Mass Importer <0.7.24 - Remote Auth Bypass
criticalAlerta < 8.1.0 - Authentication Bypass
criticalWordPress Time Capsule < 1.21.16 - Authentication Bypass
External lookups - second-class, for what we don’t hold ourselves
MITRE CWE
Vulnerabilities
CISA KEV catalog
CWE weaknesses
CAPEC attack patterns
Package vulnerabilities
Threat intelligence
Threat actors
Tools & malware
ATT&CK techniques
IOCs
Detection & defense
Sigma rules
YARA rules
Atomic Red Team tests
D3FEND countermeasures
Compliance
NIST 800-53
ISO 27001:2022
SOC 2 TSC
PCI-DSS v4.0
CIS Controls v8.1
About
All capabilities
Live statistics
Data sources
Privacy policy
Terms of service
threatengine.sh  ·  Open-source threat intelligence platform  ·  100+ authoritative sources  ·  Every fact traces to its origin