Identity Subversion

Category: Authentication & Authorization
Severity: High
MITRE ATT&CK Mapping: T1134 (Access Token Manipulation)

Description

Flaws allowing attackers to assume other identities or escalate privileges through identity manipulation, enabling unauthorized access and impersonation of legitimate users or systems.

Technical Details

Attack Vector

  • Identity manipulation vulnerabilities
  • User impersonation attacks
  • Identity token manipulation
  • Identity validation bypass

Common Techniques

  • Token manipulation
  • Identity spoofing
  • User impersonation
  • Identity validation bypass

Impact

  • Identity Theft: Unauthorized assumption of user identities
  • Impersonation: Acting as legitimate users or systems
  • Privilege Escalation: Higher-level access through identity manipulation
  • Trust Exploitation: Abuse of trust relationships

Detection Methods

Identity Monitoring

  • Monitor identity changes
  • Track identity validation
  • Detect identity manipulation
  • Analyze identity patterns

Token Analysis

  • Monitor token usage
  • Track token manipulation
  • Detect token anomalies
  • Analyze token patterns

Mitigation Strategies

Identity Protection

  • Implement strong identity validation
  • Use identity verification
  • Deploy identity monitoring
  • Monitor identity changes

Token Security

  • Implement token validation
  • Use token integrity checks
  • Deploy token monitoring
  • Monitor token usage

Real-World Examples

Example 1: Token Manipulation

def validate_user_token(token):
    # Weak token validation
    decoded = base64.decode(token)
    user_data = json.loads(decoded)
    
    # Attack: Manipulate token to change user identity
    # token = base64.encode('{"user_id": "admin", "role": "admin"}')
    
    return user_data

Example 2: Identity Spoofing

def get_user_identity(user_id, client_ip):
    # Weak identity validation
    if client_ip in trusted_ips:
        return {"user_id": user_id, "trusted": True}
    
    # Attack: Spoof IP address to appear trusted
    # client_ip = "192.168.1.100" (trusted internal IP)

Example 3: User Impersonation

def impersonate_user(admin_user, target_user):
    # Weak impersonation validation
    if admin_user.role == "admin":
        return create_session(target_user)
    
    # Attack: Manipulate admin_user.role to "admin"
    # admin_user.role = "user_admin" (contains "admin")

References & Sources

  • OWASP GenAI Security - “Securing AI’s New Frontier”
  • CyberArk - “Is your AI safe? Threat analysis of MCP”

Identity subversion attacks exploit weaknesses in identity validation to enable unauthorized access and impersonation.