Use of a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm

Description

Cryptographic algorithms provide many different modes of operation, only some of which provide message integrity. Without message integrity it could be possible for an adversary to attempt to tamper with the ciphertext which could lead to compromising the encryption key. Newer algorithms apply message integrity to validate ciphertext has not been tampered with. Instead of using an algorithm that requires configuring a cipher mode, an algorithm that has built-in message integrity should be used. Consider using `ChaCha20Poly1305` or `AES-256-GCM` instead.

Examples

Insecure Code

javax.crypto.Cipher.getInstance("AES/ECB/NoPadding");

Secure Code

Cipher chaChaCipher = Cipher.getInstance("ChaCha20-Poly1305/None/NoPadding");

Remediation

Replace the usage of ECB mode with a secure mode like ChaCha20Poly1305 or AES-256-GCM. Ensure to properly initialize the cipher with a secure key and parameters.

Rule Details

Field	Value
ID	CODE-0688
Category	Crypto
Severity	MEDIUM
CWE	CWE-327
Confidence	HIGH
Impact	HIGH
Likelihood	MEDIUM
Exploitability	MODERATE
Tags	cryptography, ecb mode
OWASP	A3:2017-Sensitive Data Exposure, A02:2021-Cryptographic Failures

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