Remediation: Authentication & Authorization Vulnerabilities

Actionable fix patterns for auth-related security vulnerabilities.

When to Use This Skill

• Fixing hardcoded credentials - After finding secrets in code
• Fixing JWT issues - After finding weak JWT configuration
• Fixing deserialization - After finding unsafe deserialization
• Fixing access control - After finding missing authorization checks

When NOT to Use This Skill

• Detecting vulnerabilities - Use vulnerability-patterns skill
• Fixing injection issues - Use remediation-injection skill
• Fixing crypto issues - Use remediation-crypto skill
• Fixing config issues - Use remediation-config skill

---

Hardcoded Credentials (CWE-798)

Problem

Credentials in source code are exposed in version control and can be extracted from compiled code.

All Languages

Don't:

# VULNERABLE: Hardcoded credentials
API_KEY = "sk-1234567890abcdef"
DB_PASSWORD = "admin123"
JWT_SECRET = "mysupersecretkey"

Do:

# SECURE: Environment variables
import os
API_KEY = os.environ.get('API_KEY')
DB_PASSWORD = os.environ.get('DB_PASSWORD')

# SECURE: Configuration file (not in git)
import configparser
config = configparser.ConfigParser()
config.read('/etc/myapp/secrets.ini')
api_key = config['api']['key']

# SECURE: Secret manager (AWS Secrets Manager)
import boto3
client = boto3.client('secretsmanager')
response = client.get_secret_value(SecretId='myapp/api-key')
api_key = response['SecretString']

# SECURE: Vault
import hvac
client = hvac.Client(url='https://vault.example.com')
secret = client.secrets.kv.read_secret_version(path='myapp/api-key')
api_key = secret['data']['data']['value']

Configuration Files

Don't:

# VULNERABLE: .env committed to git
DATABASE_URL=postgres://admin:password123@localhost/db
API_SECRET=sk-live-abcdef123456

# VULNERABLE: docker-compose.yml with secrets
environment:
  - DB_PASSWORD=admin123

Do:

# SECURE: .env.example (template, no real values)
DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@host/database
API_SECRET=your-api-secret-here

# SECURE: docker-compose with external secrets
environment:
  - DB_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/db_password
secrets:
  db_password:
    external: true

# SECURE: Use secret references
environment:
  - DB_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}  # Set at runtime

ASVS: V13.3.1, V13.3.2 References: OWASP Secrets Management

---

Insecure Deserialization (CWE-502)

Problem

Deserializing untrusted data can lead to remote code execution.

Python

Don't:

# VULNERABLE: pickle with untrusted data
import pickle
data = pickle.loads(user_input)

# VULNERABLE: yaml.load without SafeLoader
import yaml
data = yaml.load(user_input, Loader=yaml.Loader)

Do:

# SECURE: JSON for untrusted data
import json
data = json.loads(user_input)

# SECURE: yaml.safe_load
import yaml
data = yaml.safe_load(user_input)

# SECURE: If pickle is required, use hmac signing
import pickle
import hmac
import hashlib

def secure_loads(data, key):
    signature, payload = data[:64], data[64:]
    expected = hmac.new(key, payload, hashlib.sha256).hexdigest()
    if not hmac.compare_digest(signature, expected):
        raise ValueError("Invalid signature")
    return pickle.loads(payload)

Java

Don't:

// VULNERABLE: ObjectInputStream with untrusted data
ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(inputStream);
Object obj = ois.readObject();

Do:

// SECURE: Use JSON instead
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
MyClass obj = mapper.readValue(jsonString, MyClass.class);

// SECURE: If Java serialization required, use allowlist
ObjectInputFilter filter = ObjectInputFilter.Config.createFilter(
    "com.myapp.*;java.util.*;!*"
);
ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(inputStream);
ois.setObjectInputFilter(filter);

PHP

Don't:

// VULNERABLE: unserialize with user input
$data = unserialize($_POST['data']);

Do:

// SECURE: JSON instead
$data = json_decode($_POST['data'], true);

// SECURE: If unserialize required, use allowed_classes
$data = unserialize($input, ['allowed_classes' => ['AllowedClass']]);

ASVS: V1.5.1, V1.5.2 References: OWASP Deserialization

---

JWT Security (CWE-347)

Problem

Weak JWT configuration allows token forgery or manipulation.

JavaScript (Node.js)

Don't:

// VULNERABLE: "none" algorithm accepted
const decoded = jwt.verify(token, secret);  // May accept alg: "none"

// VULNERABLE: Weak secret
const token = jwt.sign(payload, 'secret');

// VULNERABLE: HS256 with RSA public key
const decoded = jwt.verify(token, publicKey);  // Algorithm confusion

Do:

// SECURE: Explicit algorithm specification
const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');

// Signing
const token = jwt.sign(payload, privateKey, {
  algorithm: 'RS256',
  expiresIn: '1h',
  issuer: 'myapp',
  audience: 'myapp-users'
});

// Verification with explicit options
const decoded = jwt.verify(token, publicKey, {
  algorithms: ['RS256'],  // Explicitly allow only RS256
  issuer: 'myapp',
  audience: 'myapp-users'
});

// SECURE: Strong symmetric key (if using HS256)
const crypto = require('crypto');
const secret = crypto.randomBytes(64).toString('hex');  // 512 bits

Python (PyJWT)

Do:

import jwt

# Signing
token = jwt.encode(
    payload,
    private_key,
    algorithm='RS256',
    headers={'kid': key_id}
)

# Verification
decoded = jwt.decode(
    token,
    public_key,
    algorithms=['RS256'],  # Explicit allowlist
    audience='myapp-users',
    issuer='myapp'
)

ASVS: V9.2.1, V9.2.2, V9.3.1 References: OWASP JWT Cheat Sheet

---

Missing Access Control (CWE-862)

Problem

Endpoints accessible without proper authorization checks allow unauthorized access.

Python (Flask)

Don't:

# VULNERABLE: No authorization check
@app.route('/api/users/<int:user_id>')
def get_user(user_id):
    return User.query.get_or_404(user_id)

# VULNERABLE: Client-side only check
@app.route('/admin/dashboard')
def admin_dashboard():
    # Relies on frontend to hide link
    return render_template('admin.html')

Do:

# SECURE: Authorization decorator
from functools import wraps
from flask import g, abort

def require_permission(permission):
    def decorator(f):
        @wraps(f)
        def decorated_function(*args, **kwargs):
            if not g.user.has_permission(permission):
                abort(403)
            return f(*args, **kwargs)
        return decorated_function
    return decorator

@app.route('/api/users/<int:user_id>')
@require_permission('users:read')
def get_user(user_id):
    # Also check ownership for user's own data
    if g.user.id != user_id and not g.user.is_admin:
        abort(403)
    return User.query.get_or_404(user_id)

JavaScript (Express)

Do:

// SECURE: Middleware for authorization
const authorize = (requiredRole) => {
  return (req, res, next) => {
    if (!req.user) {
      return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Unauthorized' });
    }
    if (!req.user.roles.includes(requiredRole)) {
      return res.status(403).json({ error: 'Forbidden' });
    }
    next();
  };
};

// SECURE: Resource ownership check
app.get('/api/users/:id', authorize('user'), (req, res) => {
  if (req.params.id !== req.user.id && !req.user.roles.includes('admin')) {
    return res.status(403).json({ error: 'Forbidden' });
  }
  // Return user data
});

Java (Spring)

Do:

// SECURE: Method-level security
@PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN') or #userId == authentication.principal.id")
@GetMapping("/users/{userId}")
public User getUser(@PathVariable Long userId) {
    return userService.findById(userId);
}

// SECURE: Custom authorization
@GetMapping("/resources/{id}")
public Resource getResource(@PathVariable Long id, Authentication auth) {
    Resource resource = resourceService.findById(id);
    if (!resource.getOwnerId().equals(auth.getName()) &&
        !auth.getAuthorities().contains(new SimpleGrantedAuthority("ROLE_ADMIN"))) {
        throw new AccessDeniedException("Not authorized");
    }
    return resource;
}

ASVS: V8.2.1, V8.2.2, V8.2.3 References: OWASP Access Control

---

Quick Reference

Vulnerability	Fix Pattern	Key Libraries
Hardcoded secrets	Environment variables, secret managers	dotenv, boto3, hvac
Unsafe deserialization	JSON, safe loaders	json, yaml.safe_load
Weak JWT	Explicit algorithms, strong keys	jsonwebtoken, PyJWT
Missing authz	Middleware, decorators	Flask-Login, Passport.js

See Also

• remediation-injection - Injection fixes
• remediation-crypto - Cryptography fixes
• remediation-config - Configuration fixes
• vulnerability-patterns - Detection patterns