Compliance Impact

This vulnerability allows unlimited brute-force attempts on the two-factor authentication (2FA) OTP verification step, potentially enabling unauthorized account access by bypassing the second authentication factor.

Such unauthorized access risks violating security requirements in common standards and regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, which mandate strong access controls and protection of sensitive data.

By allowing attackers to bypass 2FA, the vulnerability undermines the integrity of authentication mechanisms, potentially leading to data breaches or unauthorized data exposure, which are critical compliance concerns.

The patch introducing rate-limiting and lockouts for failed OTP attempts helps mitigate these risks by enforcing stronger access controls, thereby supporting compliance with these regulations.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability occurs because the AIL Framework did not limit the number of failed attempts to verify a two-factor authentication (2FA) one-time password (OTP) code. An attacker who has already passed the password stage can repeatedly guess OTP codes without restriction.

This lack of restriction allows an attacker to perform a brute-force attack on the OTP verification step, potentially guessing a valid code and bypassing the second authentication factor, which leads to unauthorized access to user accounts.

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Impact Analysis

The vulnerability can lead to unauthorized account access by allowing attackers to bypass the second factor of authentication through brute-force guessing of OTP codes.

This compromises the security of accounts protected by two-factor authentication, potentially exposing sensitive personal or organizational data.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability can be detected by monitoring repeated failed two-factor authentication (2FA) OTP verification attempts for the same user. Excessive failed OTP attempts, especially more than 30 within a short period, may indicate an ongoing brute-force attack.

To detect such activity, you can check logs or use commands to query the failed OTP attempt counters if your system uses Redis as the backend for tracking these attempts.

• Use Redis commands to inspect failed OTP attempts per user, for example: `redis-cli GET otp_failed_attempts:<username>` (replace `<username>` with the actual user identifier).
• Monitor application logs for repeated failed 2FA verification attempts.
• Check for user lockouts due to exceeding the maximum allowed failed OTP attempts (30 attempts leading to a 1-hour block).

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Mitigation Strategies

Immediate mitigation steps include applying the patch that introduces brute force protection for 2FA OTP verification.

• Enable and configure rate-limiting for login attempts and 2FA OTP verification, enforcing a maximum of 30 failed OTP attempts per user before blocking further attempts for one hour.
• Use the administrative functions to purge brute force protection timeouts if legitimate users are locked out, via endpoints such as `/settings/users/purge_failed_login` for login attempts and `/settings/user/purge_otp_timeout` for 2FA timeouts.
• Monitor and audit failed login and OTP attempts regularly to detect and respond to brute force attacks promptly.

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