Password Aging with Long Expiration

Opis

The product supports password aging, but the expiration period is too long.

Password aging (or password rotation) is a policy that forces users to change their passwords after a defined time period passes, such as every 30 or 90 days. A long expiration provides more time for attackers to conduct password cracking before users are forced to change to a new password.

Note that while password aging was once considered an important security feature, it has since fallen out of favor by many, because it is not as effective against modern threats compared to other mechanisms such as slow hashes. In addition, forcing frequent changes can unintentionally encourage users to select less-secure passwords. However, password aging is still in use due to factors such as compliance requirements, e.g., Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

Skutki

• Access Control

  Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

  As passwords age, the probability that they are compromised grows.

Zapobieganie

• Implementation

  Previously, "password expiration" was widely advocated as a defense-in-depth approach to minimize the risk of weak passwords, and it has become a common practice. Password expiration requires a password to be changed within a fixed time window (such as every 90 days). However, this approach has significant limitations in the current threat landscape, and its utility has been reduced in light of the adoption of related protection mechanisms (such as password complexity and computational effort), along with the recognition that regular password changes often caused users to generate more predictable passwords. As a result, this is now a Discouraged Common Practice [REF-1488] [REF-1489], especially as the sole factor in protecting passwords. It is still strongly encouraged to force password changes in case of evidence of compromise, but this is not the same as a forced "expiration" on an arbitrary time frame.

• Architecture and Design

  Ensure that password aging is limited so that there is a defined maximum age for passwords. Note that if the expiration window is too short, it can cause users to generate poor or predictable passwords.

• Architecture and Design

  Ensure that the user is notified several times leading up to the password expiration.

• Architecture and Design

  Create mechanisms to prevent users from reusing passwords or creating similar passwords.

• Implementation

  Developers might disable clipboard paste operations into password fields as a way to discourage users from pasting a password into a clipboard. However, this might encourage users to choose less-secure passwords that are easier to type, and it can reduce the usability of password managers [REF-1294].

  Skuteczność: Discouraged Common Practice

Słabość nadrzędna

• CWE-1390 Weak Authentication

Kiedy powstaje

• Architecture and Design — COMMISSION: This weakness refers to an incorrect design related to an architectural security tactic.

Dotyczy

Not Language-Specific

Uwagi

Password expiration was once widely advocated (see Mitigations), but it is no longer actively supported. It might be appropriate to Deprecate this entry, or at least change it significantly so that readers can consider alternate mechanisms to protect passwords (and/or avoid passwords entirely). However, older software - and even modern software - might still need to be mapped to this weakness if the software is obsolete or not actively maintained, and expiration remains the only option.

Źródła

1. Digital Identity Guidelines (SP 800-63B-4) — NIST, 2025
2. Password Guidance: Simplifying Your Approach — National Cyber Security Centre, 2015
3. 24 Deadly Sins of Software Security — Michael Howard, David LeBlanc, John Viega, "Sin 19: Use of Weak Password-Based Systems." Page 279, McGraw-Hill, 2010
4. The CLASP Application Security Process — Secure Software, Inc., 2005
5. Discussion Thread: Time to retire CWE-262 and CWE-263 — Kurt Seifried and other members of the CWE-Research mailing list, 2021
6. Time for Password Expiration to Die — Lance Spitzner, 2021
7. Time to rethink mandatory password changes — Lorrie Cranor, 2016
8. Security Myths and Passwords — Eugene Spafford, 2006
9. Password administration for system owners — National Cyber Security Centre, 2018
10. Digital Identity Guidelines: Authentication and Lifecycle Management(SP 800-63B) — NIST, 2017
11. Let them paste passwords — National Cyber Security Centre, 2017