The description above is MITRE’s definition of CWE-521 in CWE 4.20, a base-level weakness.
Common consequences MITRE lists
- Access Control: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Guides on this site
Password storage: hashing parameters and rehash on login
Choose Argon2id, scrypt, PBKDF2 or bcrypt with current minimum parameters, store a versioned hash, and upgrade old hashes after a successful login without overwriting a reset.
Stop account takeover with the right MFA and login defenses
Rank MFA options by the attacks they stop, implement TOTP and push approvals correctly, and close the login, reset and recovery paths that attackers use instead of breaking the second factor.
Practice
References
This page is generated from MITRE’s CWE 4.20 catalogue (released 30 April 2026) and lists every guide, fix card and lab here that cites CWE-521.
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