Description

The software does not properly limit the number or frequency of interactions that it has with an actor, such as the number of incoming requests.

Extended Description

This can allow the actor to perform actions more frequently than expected. The actor could be a human or an automated process such as a virus or bot. This could be used to cause a denial of service, compromise program logic (such as limiting humans to a single vote), or other consequences. For example, an authentication routine might not limit the number of times an attacker can guess a password. Or, a web site might conduct a poll but only expect humans to vote a maximum of once a day.

Applicable Platforms
Language Class: Language-independent

Time Of Introduction

• Architecture and Design
• Implementation
• Operation

Common Consequences

Detection Methods
None

Potential Mitigations
None

Relationships

Demonstrative Examples   (Details)

1. In the following code a username and password is read from a socket and an attempt is made to authenticate the username and password. The code will continuously checked the socket for a username and password until it has been authenticated.

Observed Examples

1. CVE-2002-1876 : Mail server allows attackers to prevent other users from accessing mail by sending large number of rapid requests.

White Box Definitions
None

Black Box Definitions
None

Taxynomy Mappings

References:

1. Web Application Security Consortium .Insufficient Anti-automation.