CWE-640 Base Incomplete High likelihood

Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password

This vulnerability occurs when an application's password reset or recovery feature is poorly designed or implemented, allowing attackers to bypass authentication and hijack user accounts.

Definition

What is CWE-640?

This vulnerability occurs when an application's password reset or recovery feature is poorly designed or implemented, allowing attackers to bypass authentication and hijack user accounts.
Password recovery is a necessary feature, but it often becomes the weakest link in your authentication system. Common flaws include using easily guessed security questions (answers found on social media), sending the original password instead of a secure temporary one, or failing to limit reset attempts, which enables denial-of-service attacks. Attackers exploit these oversights to impersonate legitimate users, completely undermining even strong initial password policies. To prevent this, treat the recovery mechanism with the same security rigor as the primary login. Always generate a time-limited, single-use token sent to a pre-verified contact method. Implement robust rate-limiting and audit logs for all recovery attempts. The goal is to verify the user's identity securely without creating a new, exploitable path into the account.
Real-world impact

Real-world CVEs caused by CWE-640

No public CVE references are linked to this CWE in MITRE's catalog yet.

How attackers exploit it

Step-by-step attacker path

  1. 1

    Identify a code path that handles untrusted input without validation.

  2. 2

    Craft a payload that exercises the unsafe behavior — injection, traversal, overflow, or logic abuse.

  3. 3

    Deliver the payload through a normal request and observe the application's reaction.

  4. 4

    Iterate until the response leaks data, executes attacker code, or escalates privileges.

Vulnerable code example

Vulnerable pseudo

MITRE has not published a code example for this CWE. The pattern below is illustrative — see Resources for canonical references.

Vulnerable pseudo 
// Example pattern — see MITRE for the canonical references.
function handleRequest(input) {
  // Untrusted input flows directly into the sensitive sink.
  return executeUnsafe(input);
}
Secure code example

Secure pseudo

Secure pseudo 
// Validate, sanitize, or use a safe API before reaching the sink.
function handleRequest(input) {
  const safe = validateAndEscape(input);
  return executeWithGuards(safe);
}
What changed: the unsafe sink is replaced (or the input is validated/escaped) so the same payload no longer triggers the weakness.
Prevention checklist

How to prevent CWE-640

  • Architecture and Design Make sure that all input supplied by the user to the password recovery mechanism is thoroughly filtered and validated.
  • Architecture and Design Do not use standard weak security questions and use several security questions.
  • Architecture and Design Make sure that there is throttling on the number of incorrect answers to a security question. Disable the password recovery functionality after a certain (small) number of incorrect guesses.
  • Architecture and Design Require that the user properly answers the security question prior to resetting their password and sending the new password to the e-mail address of record.
  • Architecture and Design Never allow the user to control what e-mail address the new password will be sent to in the password recovery mechanism.
  • Architecture and Design Assign a new temporary password rather than revealing the original password.
Detection signals

How to detect CWE-640

SAST High

Run static analysis (SAST) on the codebase looking for the unsafe pattern in the data flow.

DAST Moderate

Run dynamic application security testing against the live endpoint.

Runtime Moderate

Watch runtime logs for unusual exception traces, malformed input, or authorization bypass attempts.

Code review Moderate

Code review: flag any new code that handles input from this surface without using the validated framework helpers.

Plexicus auto-fix

Plexicus auto-detects CWE-640 and opens a fix PR in under 60 seconds.

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Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

What is CWE-640?

This vulnerability occurs when an application's password reset or recovery feature is poorly designed or implemented, allowing attackers to bypass authentication and hijack user accounts.

How serious is CWE-640?

MITRE rates the likelihood of exploit as High — this weakness is actively exploited in the wild and should be prioritized for remediation.

What languages or platforms are affected by CWE-640?

MITRE has not specified affected platforms for this CWE — it can apply across most application stacks.

How can I prevent CWE-640?

Make sure that all input supplied by the user to the password recovery mechanism is thoroughly filtered and validated. Do not use standard weak security questions and use several security questions.

How does Plexicus detect and fix CWE-640?

Plexicus's SAST engine matches the data-flow signature for CWE-640 on every commit. When a match is found, our Codex Remedium agent opens a fix PR with the corrected code, tests, and a one-line summary for the reviewer.

Where can I learn more about CWE-640?

MITRE publishes the canonical definition at https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/640.html. You can also reference OWASP and NIST documentation for adjacent guidance.

Related weaknesses

Weaknesses related to CWE-640

CWE-1390 Parent

Weak Authentication

This vulnerability occurs when a system's login or identity verification process is too easy to bypass or fool. While it attempts to check…

CWE-1391 Sibling

Use of Weak Credentials

This vulnerability occurs when a system relies on weak authentication credentials—like default passwords, hard-coded keys, or easily…

CWE-262 Sibling

Not Using Password Aging

This vulnerability occurs when a system lacks password expiration policies, allowing users to keep the same password indefinitely.

CWE-263 Sibling

Password Aging with Long Expiration

The system enforces password changes, but the time allowed between changes is excessively long, weakening security.

CWE-289 Sibling

Authentication Bypass by Alternate Name

This vulnerability occurs when a system checks access based on a resource or user name, but fails to account for all the different names…

CWE-290 Sibling

Authentication Bypass by Spoofing

This weakness occurs when an application's authentication system can be tricked into accepting forged or manipulated credentials, allowing…

CWE-294 Sibling

Authentication Bypass by Capture-replay

This vulnerability occurs when an attacker can intercept and record legitimate authentication traffic, then replay it later to gain…

CWE-301 Sibling

Reflection Attack in an Authentication Protocol

A reflection attack is a flaw in mutual authentication protocols that allows an attacker to impersonate a legitimate user without knowing…

CWE-302 Sibling

Authentication Bypass by Assumed-Immutable Data

This vulnerability occurs when an authentication system incorrectly treats certain data as unchangeable, when in fact an attacker can…

Resources

Further reading

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