CWE-916: Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort

CWE-916: Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort is a Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) entry maintained by MITRE. The product generates a hash for a password, but it uses a scheme that does not provide a sufficient level of computational effort that would make password cracking attacks infeasible or expensive. Many password storage mechanisms compute a hash and store the hash, instead of storing the original password in plaintext. In this design, authentication involves accepting an incoming password, computing its hash, and comparing it to the stored hash. Many hash algorithms are designed to execute quickly with minimal overhead, even cryptographic hashes. However, this efficiency is a problem for password storage, because it can reduce an attacker's workload for brute-force password cracking. If an attacker can obtain the hashes through some other method (such as SQL injection on a database that stores hashes), then the attacker can store the hashes offline and use various techniques to crack the passwords by computing hashes efficiently. Without a built-in workload, modern attacks can compute large numbers of hashes, or even exhaust the entire space of all possible passwords, within a very short amount of time, using massively-parallel computing (such as cloud computing) and GPU, ASIC, or FPGA hardware. In such a scenario, an efficient hash algorithm helps the attacker. There are several properties of a hash scheme that are relevant to its strength against an offline, massively-parallel attack: The amount of CPU time required to compute the hash ("stretching") The amount of memory required to compute the hash ("memory-hard" operations) Including a random value, along with the password, as input to the hash computation ("salting") Given a hash, there is no known way of determining an input (e.g., a password) that produces this hash value, other than by guessing possible inputs ("one-way" hashing) Relative to the number of all possible hashes that can be generated by the scheme, there is a low likelihood of producing the same hash for multiple different inputs ("collision resistance") Note that the security requirements for the product may vary depending on the environment and the value of the passwords. Different schemes might not provide all of these properties, yet may still provide sufficient security for the environment. Conversely, a solution might be very strong in preserving one property, which still being very weak for an attack against another property, or it might not be able to significantly reduce the efficiency of a massively-parallel attack.

If exploited, CWE-916 (Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort) it can compromise Access Control, leading to outcomes such as Bypass Protection Mechanism and Gain Privileges or Assume Identity.

CWE-916 can be detected using Automated Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode, Manual Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode, Manual Static Analysis - Source Code, Automated Static Analysis - Source Code, Automated Static Analysis and Architecture or Design Review. Combining automated tooling with manual review typically yields the best coverage.

CWE-916 commonly affects Not Language-Specific. Note that weaknesses are often language-agnostic patterns, so secure coding practices apply broadly.

MITRE documents real CVEs mapped to CWE-916, including CVE-2008-1526, CVE-2006-1058, CVE-2008-4905, CVE-2002-1657 and CVE-2001-0967. You can look up the full details of each CVE, including CVSS scores and remediation guidance, on our CVE Lookup tool.

A CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration) like CWE-916 describes a category of software weakness — the underlying flaw type. A CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) identifies a specific, real-world vulnerability in a particular product. In short, a CWE is the kind of mistake, and a CVE is an instance of that mistake being found in software.