Common Authentication Vulnerabilities Developers Overlook (and How to Prevent Them)

Authentication and authorization flaws often persist because login, session, recovery, and access-control code is built early, rarely revisited, and difficult for automated scanners or time-limited penetration tests to assess in context. Common weaknesses include inadequate password policies and fast hashing algorithms, insecure or long-lived session tokens, poorly enforced MFA, predictable or reusable password-reset tokens, account-enumeration errors, missing server-side authorization checks, and incorrect OAuth or OpenID Connect validation. Recommended practices include using Argon2, bcrypt, or scrypt; checking passwords against breach databases; storing session tokens in secure HttpOnly cookies with rotation and expiration; enforcing MFA server-side with rate limits and stronger factors such as TOTP or WebAuthn; securing reset flows with cryptographically random, single-use tokens; validating authorization for every resource request; and strictly validating OAuth state, redirect URIs, issuers, and audiences. The passage argues that manual code audits complement automated tools and penetration tests by tracing real authentication logic, particularly after major changes or before compliance reviews, and emphasizes that routine reassessment is necessary because these long-known issues can enable serious breaches.

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