VNX-640 – Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password

Overview

VNX-640 maps to CWE-640: Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password. Detects source patterns associated with CWE-640 (Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password). Each finding should be manually reviewed for exploitability in context.

Severity: Medium | CWE: CWE-640 | Languages: node, python

Why This Matters

This weakness class (Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password) creates a concrete exploit surface: the rule searches for the concrete source-level patterns most commonly associated with CWE-640 and surfaces them for review. Each finding should be evaluated in context — the rule catches the pattern, not the context.

What Gets Flagged

// FLAGGED: contains 'secret_question' pattern
secret_question

Remediation

  1. Review each flagged line and determine whether the pattern represents a real instance of CWE-640 or a false positive.
  2. Replace the flagged construct with a documented safe alternative appropriate to your language and framework.
  3. For confirmed false positives, add a # vulnetix-ignore: VNX-640 comment on the line.
  4. Ensure equivalent test coverage exists to prevent regression.

References