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CWE-1428

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CWE-1428

Reliance on HTTP instead of HTTPS

Base
Incomplete

Description

The product provides or relies on use of HTTP communications when HTTPS is available.

{"xhtml:p":["Because HTTP communications are not encrypted, HTTP is subject to various attacks against confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. However, unlike many other protocols, HTTPS is widely available as a more secure alternative, because it uses encryption."]}

Common Consequences

Scope

Confidentiality
Integrity

Impact

Read Application Data, Modify Application Data

Potential Mitigations

Architecture and Design

Explicitly require HTTPS or another mechanism that ensures that communication is encrypted [REF-1464].

Implementation

Avoid using "mixed content," i.e., serving a web page over HTTPS in which the page includes elements that use "http:" URLs [REF-1466] [REF-1467]. This is often done for images or other resources that do not seem to have privacy or security implications.

Implementation
Operation

Perform "HTTPS forcing," that is, redirecting HTTP requests to HTTPS.

Operation

If the product supports multiple protocols, ensure that encrypted protocols (such as HTTPS) are required, and remove any unencrypted protocols (such as HTTP).

Applicable Platforms

Not Language-Specific

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