An adversary exploits a sample, demonstration, test, or debug interface that is unintentionally enabled on a production system, with the goal of gleaning information or leveraging functionality that would otherwise be unavailable.

Non-production interfaces are insecure by default and should not be resident on production systems, since they may reveal sensitive information or functionality that should not be known to end-users. However, such interfaces may be unintentionally left enabled on a production system due to configuration errors, supply chain mismanagement, or other pre-deployment activities.
Ultimately, failure to properly disable non-production interfaces, in a production environment, may expose a great deal of diagnostic information or functionality to an adversary, which can be utilized to further refine their attack. Moreover, many non-production interfaces do not have adequate security controls or may not have undergone rigorous testing since they were not intended for use in production environments. As such, they may contain many flaws and vulnerabilities that could allow an adversary to severely disrupt a target.

Low
High

1
Explore
[Determine Vulnerable Interface] An adversary explores a target system for sample or test interfaces that have not been disabled by a system administrator and which may be exploitable by the adversary.
If needed, the adversary explores an organization's network to determine if any specific systems of interest exist.

2
Exploit
[Leverage Test Interface to Execute Attacks] Once an adversary has discovered a system with a non-production interface, the interface is leveraged to exploit the system and/or conduct various attacks.
The adversary can leverage the sample or test interface to conduct several types of attacks such as Adversary-in-the-Middle attacks (CAPEC-94), keylogging, Cross Site Scripting (XSS), hardware manipulation attacks, and more.

The target must have configured non-production interfaces and failed to secure or remove them when brought into a production environment.

Exploiting non-production interfaces requires significant skill and knowledge about the potential non-production interfaces left enabled in production.

For some interfaces, the adversary will need that appropriate client application or hardware that interfaces with the interface. Other non-production interfaces can be executed using simple tools, such as web browsers or console windows. In some cases, an adversary may need to be able to authenticate to the target before it can access the vulnerable interface.

Confidentiality
Access Control
Authentication
Gain Privileges
Bypass Protection Mechanism

Confidentiality
Access Control
Authorization
Read Data
Execute Unauthorized Commands

Access Control
Integrity
Modify Data
Alter Execution Logic

Ensure that production systems do not contain non-production interfaces and that these interfaces are only used in development environments.

Some software applications include application programming interfaces (APIs) that are intended to allow an administrator to test and refine their domain. These APIs are typically disabled once a system enters a production environment, but may be left in an insecure state due to a configuration error or mismanagement.

Many hardware systems leverage bits typically reserved for future functionality for testing and debugging purposes. If these reserved bits remain enabled in a production environment, it could allow an adversary to induce unwanted/unsupported behavior in the hardware.

CAPEC Content Team
The MITRE Corporation
2014-06-23

CAPEC Content Team
The MITRE Corporation
2018-07-31
Updated Activation_Zone, Attack_Phases, Description, Description Summary, Injection_Vector, Payload, Payload_Activation_Impact, Solutions_and_Mitigations, Typical_Likelihood_of_Exploit

CAPEC Content Team
The MITRE Corporation
2019-04-04
Updated Related_Weaknesses

CAPEC Content Team
The MITRE Corporation
2020-07-30
Updated @Name, @Status, Consequences, Description, Execution_Flow, Mitigations, Prerequisites, References, Related_Weaknesses, Resources_Required, Skills_Required

CAPEC Content Team
The MITRE Corporation
2020-12-17
Updated Description, Example_Instances, Related_Weaknesses

CAPEC Content Team
The MITRE Corporation
2021-06-24
Updated Execution_Flow, Related_Weaknesses

CAPEC Content Team
The MITRE Corporation
2021-10-21
Updated Related_Weaknesses

CAPEC Content Team
The MITRE Corporation
2022-02-22
Updated Description, Extended_Description, Resources_Required

CAPEC Content Team
The MITRE Corporation
2023-01-24
Updated Mitigations

Locate and Exploit Test APIs
Exploit Test APIs