Developer code in an application must include authorization checks on assigned roles to ensure an authorized user is not able to elevate their role to a higher privilege. Such privilege escalation attacks occur by modifying the value of the assigned role and replacing the value with another. In the event that the attack is successful, the user gains unauthorized access to resources or functionality normally restricted to administrators or more-powerful accounts.
Testing for privilege escalation
Getting ready
Using OWASP Mutillidae II as our target application, let's log in as a regular user, John, and determine whether we can escalate our role to admin.
