CWE - CWE-671: Lack of Administrator Control over Security (4.19.1)
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    CWE-671: Lack of Administrator Control over Security

    Weakness ID: 671
    Vulnerability Mapping: ALLOWED This CWE ID could be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities in limited situations requiring careful review (with careful review of mapping notes)
    Abstraction: Class Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource.
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    + Description
    The product uses security features in a way that prevents the product's administrator from tailoring security settings to reflect the environment in which the product is being used. This introduces resultant weaknesses or prevents it from operating at a level of security that is desired by the administrator.
    + Extended Description
    If the product's administrator does not have the ability to manage security-related decisions at all times, then protecting the product from outside threats - including the product's developer - can become impossible. For example, a hard-coded account name and password cannot be changed by the administrator, thus exposing that product to attacks that the administrator can not prevent.
    + Common Consequences
    Section HelpThis table specifies different individual consequences associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to achieve a different impact.
    Impact Details

    Varies by Context

    		Scope: Other

    + Relationships
    Section Help This table shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOf and give insight to similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such as PeerOf and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user may want to explore.
    + Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (View-1000)
    Nature Type ID Name
    ChildOf Class Class - a weakness that is described in a very abstract fashion, typically independent of any specific language or technology. More specific than a Pillar Weakness, but more general than a Base Weakness. Class level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 1 or 2 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, and resource. 657 Violation of Secure Design Principles
    ParentOf Base Base - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource. 447 Unimplemented or Unsupported Feature in UI
    ParentOf Base Base - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource. 798 Use of Hard-coded Credentials
    + Relevant to the view "Architectural Concepts" (View-1008)
    Nature Type ID Name
    MemberOf Category Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1011 Authorize Actors
    + Modes Of Introduction
    Section HelpThe different Modes of Introduction provide information about how and when this weakness may be introduced. The Phase identifies a point in the life cycle at which introduction may occur, while the Note provides a typical scenario related to introduction during the given phase.
    Phase Note
    Architecture and Design OMISSION: This weakness is caused by missing a security tactic during the architecture and design phase.
    Implementation
    + Applicable Platforms
    Section HelpThis listing shows possible areas for which the given weakness could appear. These may be for specific named Languages, Operating Systems, Architectures, Paradigms, Technologies, or a class of such platforms. The platform is listed along with how frequently the given weakness appears for that instance.
    Languages

    Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined Prevalence)

    + Demonstrative Examples

    Example 1


    The following code is an example of an internal hard-coded password in the back-end:

    (bad code)
    Example Language: C 
    int VerifyAdmin(char *password) {
    if (strcmp(password, "Mew!")) {
    printf("Incorrect Password!\n");
    return(0)
    }
    printf("Entering Diagnostic Mode...\n");
    return(1);
    }
    (bad code)
    Example Language: Java 
    int VerifyAdmin(String password) {
    if (!password.equals("Mew!")) {
    return(0)
    }
    //Diagnostic Mode
    return(1);
    }

    Every instance of this program can be placed into diagnostic mode with the same password. Even worse is the fact that if this program is distributed as a binary-only distribution, it is very difficult to change that password or disable this "functionality."



    + Selected Observed Examples

    Note: this is a curated list of examples for users to understand the variety of ways in which this weakness can be introduced. It is not a complete list of all CVEs that are related to this CWE entry.

    Reference Description
    Condition Monitor firmware has a maintenance interface with hard-coded credentials
    GUI configuration tool does not enable a security option when a checkbox is selected, although that option is honored when manually set in the configuration file.
    + Weakness Ordinalities
    Ordinality Description
    Primary
    (where the weakness exists independent of other weaknesses)
    + Memberships
    Section HelpThis MemberOf Relationships table shows additional CWE Categories and Views that reference this weakness as a member. This information is often useful in understanding where a weakness fits within the context of external information sources.
    Nature Type ID Name
    MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 975 SFP Secondary Cluster: Architecture
    MemberOf CategoryCategory - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic. 1418 Comprehensive Categorization: Violation of Secure Design Principles
    + Vulnerability Mapping Notes
    Usage ALLOWED-WITH-REVIEW
    (this CWE ID could be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities in limited situations requiring careful review)
    Reason Abstraction

    Rationale

    		This CWE entry is a Class and might have Base-level children that would be more appropriate

    Comments

    		Examine children of this entry to see if there is a better fit
    + Content History
    + Submissions
    Submission Date Submitter Organization
    2008-04-11
    (CWE Draft 9, 2008-04-11)     		CWE Community
    Submitted by members of the CWE community to extend early CWE versions
    + Modifications
    Modification Date Modifier Organization
    2025-12-11
    (CWE 4.19, 2025-12-11)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Applicable_Platforms, Weakness_Ordinalities
    2024-02-29
    (CWE 4.14, 2024-02-29)     		CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Demonstrative_Examples, Observed_Examples
    2023-10-26 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Observed_Examples
    2023-06-29 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Mapping_Notes
    2023-04-27 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Relationships
    2020-02-24 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Relationships
    2017-11-08 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Modes_of_Introduction, Relationships, Relevant_Properties
    2014-07-30 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Relationships
    2012-05-11 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Relationships
    2011-06-27 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Common_Consequences
    2011-06-01 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Common_Consequences
    2010-09-27 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Relationships
    2010-02-16 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Relationships
    2009-01-12 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Description, Name
    2008-09-08 CWE Content Team MITRE
    updated Description, Relationships
    2008-07-01 Eric Dalci Cigital
    updated Time_of_Introduction
    + Previous Entry Names
    Change Date Previous Entry Name
    2009-01-12 Design Principle Violation: Lack of Administrator Control over Security
    Page Last Updated: January 21, 2026