JHipster before v.8.9.0 allows privilege escalation via a modified authorities parameter. Upon registering in the JHipster portal and logging in as a standard user, the authorities parameter in the response from the api/account endpoint contains the value ROLE_USER. By manipulating the authorities parameter and changing its value to ROLE_ADMIN, the privilege is successfully escalated to an Admin level. This allowed the access to all admin-related functionalities in the application. NOTE: this is disputed by the Supplier because there is no privilege escalation in the context of the JHipster backend (the report only demonstrates that, after using JHipster to generate an application, one can make a non-functional admin screen visible in the front end of that application).
The user interface (UI) does not properly represent critical information to the user, allowing the information - or its source - to be obscured or spoofed. This is often a component in phishing attacks.
If an attacker can cause the UI to display erroneous data, or to otherwise convince the user to display information that appears to come from a trusted source, then the attacker could trick the user into performing the wrong action. This is often a component in phishing attacks, but other kinds of problems exist. For example, if the UI is used to monitor the security state of a system or network, then omitting or obscuring an important indicator could prevent the user from detecting and reacting to a security-critical event. UI misrepresentation can take many forms: