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Golam_Mostafa
Golam_Mostafa

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Unprotected Functionality

Title: Vertical Privilege Escalation

Vertical privilege escalation happens when regular users access admin-only areas due to weak access control and vice versa.

Example:

A user types example.com/admin. If there’s no restriction, they can access the admin panel without permission.

Key Points:

  • Direct URL Access: Typing sensitive URLs like /admin can bypass security.
  • robots.txt Exposure: Can accidentally reveal admin URLs.
  • Brute Force: Attackers guess URLs to find admin pages.

Dangers:

  • Unauthorized changes, data access, or system takeover.

Prevention:

  • Use strict role-based access controls.
  • Always secure sensitive areas, don’t rely on hidden URLs.

Title: The Flaw of Security by Obscurity

Hiding sensitive functionality behind a hard-to-guess URL isn’t true protection. This is known as "security by obscurity."

Example:

An admin URL like insecure-website.com/administrator-panel-yb556 might seem secure because it's not guessable. But if the URL is in the JavaScript, any user can inspect the code and find it.

Key Points:

  • Hidden URLs aren’t real security.
  • Visible in Code: Scripts or code can leak sensitive URLs to regular users.

Solution:

Always enforce strict access control; never rely on hiding URLs.


Acknowledgment: This document references information from PortSwigger Web Security and ChatGPT.


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