Sending basic authentication credentials as cleartext allowed

Issue ID: global-securityscheme-basic-clear

Average severity: Minimal

Description

One or more global security schemes in the API allows to set security requirements that accept basic authentication credentials sent in cleartext over an unencrypted channel. Attackers can easily intercept API calls and retrieve the credentials. They can then use the credentials to make other API calls.

This is a potential risk, because the definition is in security schemes. However, it easily turns into an actual risk when the unsafe method is used in a security requirement.

For more details, see the OpenAPI Specification.

Example

The following is an example of how this type of risk could look in your API definition. The securityDefinitions field defines that using basic authentication (username and password) is allowed. The schemes field sets HTTP as the supported transportation protocol. This means that the API could accept an API call over an unencrypted HTTP connection, and expects it to have the username and password in the clear:

{
    "schemes": [
        "http"
    ],
    // ...
    "securityDefinitions": {
        "regularSecurity": {
            "type": "basic"
        }
    }
}

Possible exploit scenario

Attackers can intercept the credentials simply by listening to the network traffic in a public WiFi network. They could also use a traffic logging tool on a smartphone, computer, or browser, or sniff the traffic in the network to get the credentials.

Remediation

At the very least, set the transport protocol to HTTPS only so that all traffic is encrypted. You could also improve the security of the authentication method. The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code flow (Access Code flow in OAS v2) is considered the most secure way to provide API authorization.

{
    "schemes": [
        "https"
    ],
    // ...
    "securityDefinitions": {
        "OAuth2": {
            "type": "oauth2",
            "flow": "accessCode",
            "scopes": {
                "read": "read objects in your account",
                "write": "modify objects in your account"
            },
            "authorizationUrl": "https://example.com/oauth/authorize",
            "tokenUrl": "https://example.com/oauth/token" 
        }
    },
    // ...
    "security" : {
        "OAuth2": [
            "write",
            "read"
        ]
    }
}