- Authentication &  Password Management

- Token & Session Management
- Authorization & Access Management
           

Security Considerations

Asjad Saboor

$whoami

  • Full-stack JS developer
  • Associate Software Architect @ 10pearls
  • Betts Recuriting

Agenda

  • Authentication vs Authorization
  • Authentication methods and security
  • Securing User Session  & JWT
  • Authorization models

Authentication != Authorization

How to do Authentication? 

  • Password based
  • Biometrics
  • Passwordless
  • 2FA or MFA
  • Certificate Based

Best Security Practices 

Salting & Hashing Passwords

  • No Plain text
  • Strongly hashed and salted that cannot be reversed
  • Use Bcrypt ,Scrypt, Argon2 and avoid using deprecated algorithms such as md5 or SHA
  • Make sure the hashing algo library / version is dont have any open vulnerability.

Why salting is necessary?

  • Hashing without salt create same results
  • Hashes will become predictable
  • Salt is a random string.
  • Salt + Plain text = unpredictable hash 

bcrypt

Strong Passwords

  • Weak passwords with Salt+Hash can still be compromised.
  • Ensure Minimum length of password to be 8.
  • Ensure complexity (uppercase, lowercase,number,special characters)
  • Password rotation.

Stopping Brute-force attacks

  • Logging all attempts (IP/Useragent) 
  • Blocking account / login limits
  • Auth Challenge i.e Captcha
  • Notifying user of invalid attempts

Error Messages/Codes ?

  1. Email Not found.
  2. Password in invalid.
  3. User is not active.
  4. Invalid Credentials.
  5. We have sent you reset password link.
  6. If your email is registered, you should have received a password reset email.

Forgot/Reset Password 

  • Show not look like spam or phishing email
  • Link Should Expire after use  
  • Should contain
    • password reset link
    • Expiry information
    • Support contact information
    • Images should be public
  • Should Not
    • secure resources /assets.
  • Go to Have
    • Who requested the reset(IP/Agent)

 

Are Passwords

Good enough?

Not for High risk / sensitive application!

MFA or 2FA

  • Verifies user’s identities using multiple methods of authentication
  • SMS/Email
  • Phone Call
  • Tokens

Security and usability go hand in hand

  • Should not choose between security and usability
  • Security should support and enable better business and should not hinder business functioning
  • Provide a Variety of Authentication Factors.
  • One time pin-code
    • Easypaisa Frauds
    • Whatsapp scams
  • Biometric Fails
    • Face ID in the age of Covid.

Reinvent the wheel or use popular identity providers?

Securing Sessions  & Token

User Session Recap

  • Http is Stateless
  • Tracking user interaction with the server
  • session is a sequence of network HTTP request and response transactions associated with the same user.
  • Stored in cookies
  • Session ID - Unique Identifier
     

Securing User Sessions

  • session ID
    • should not offer unnecessary details.
    • Change default session Id of frameworks.
    • Long enough and unpredictable to prevent brute force (128 bytes).
  • Always use TLS / HTTPS
  • use build-in session management in frameworks 
  • Only use cookies for session exchange

Securing Cookies

Securing Cookies

  • Set Attributes
    • secure -prevents MitM
    • HttpOnly - prevents XSS
    • SameSite: Strict - Prevents CSRF
    • Domain
    • Expiry / Max-Age
<html>
  <body>
    <form action="https://vulnerable-website.com/email/change" method="POST">
      <input type="hidden" name="email" value="pwned@evil-user.net" />
    </form>
    <script>
      document.forms[0].submit();
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

CSRF attack

JSON Web Token

  • A way to exchange authentication information
  • Stateless
  • Signed(base64 url) - Not encrypted but payload can be(JWE). 
  • Structure
    • Header
    • Payload
    • Signature

No Built in Token revocation

Storing JWT
Local Storage or Cookies?

Storing JWT

  • Local /Session Storage
    • XSS attacks
    • Short lived
  • Cookies
    • httpOnly else prone to CSRF attacks

Which one to choose?

Authorization Models

Authorization Models 

  • Set of rules that governs

    • ​what actions some users or Group of users can perform.

    • Who uses what resource,when and in what amounts

  • Defined by Business needs / Requirements.

  • ACL, RBAC, ABAC ...

  • Ideal to follow the principle of least privilege. 

  • Adopt zero-trust security model.

  • Check on every request at back-end.

Access Control Levels

  • Enforce multiple levels of authentication
  • Specific IP / Location
  • Domain / Business / Service / Data layer
  • Database
  • In Short - each layer should have some security measures in place.

ACL

  • Simplest model  - gatekeeper
  • Security is tied to an individual.
  • List of users with simple yes/no permissions.
  • Each user can have list of some permissions

RBAC

  • More granular control than ACL
  • Based on roles in Business / Organizations
    • Manager, Director, Team Lead
  • All permissions are assigned via Roles.
  • Standard for Most business applications.

ABAC

  • More Fine grained than RBAC
  • Provides access based on user, environment and resource attributes.
    • User Attributes: role / organization /security Clearance
    • Environment: time of access, location, type of data
    • Resource: owner, creation date

Questions

Thank you

Secure Coding Practices - Authentication & Authorization

By Asjad Saboor

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