CAPEC-148
Content Spoofing
An adversary modifies content to make it contain something other than what the original content producer intended while keeping the apparent source of the content unchanged. The term content spoofing is most often used to describe modification of web pages hosted by a target to display the adversary's content instead of the owner's content. However, any content can be spoofed, including the content of email messages, file transfers, or the content of other network communication protocols. Content can be modified at the source (e.g. modifying the source file for a web page) or in transit (e.g. intercepting and modifying a message between the sender and recipient). Usually, the adversary will attempt to hide the fact that the content has been modified, but in some cases, such as with web site defacement, this is not necessary. Content Spoofing can lead to malware exposure, financial fraud (if the content governs financial transactions), privacy violations, and other unwanted outcomes.
On this page
Ask an AI about this attack pattern
Show the prompt
Explain the attack pattern CAPEC-148: Content Spoofing: how it unfolds, what it needs and how to prevent and detect it in my systems. Use https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/148.html and https://cve.bz/cve/capec/148?via=ask-ai-copy, which lists recent CVEs with the weaknesses it exploits. Cite the sources.Opens a third-party assistant; its answer is its own, not cve.bz's. The prompt holds only this attack pattern's id and public links.
Prerequisites
The target must provide content but fail to adequately protect it against modification.The adversary must have the means to alter data to which they are not authorized. If the content is to be modified in transit, the adversary must be able to intercept the targeted messages.
Resources required
If the content is to be modified in transit, the adversary requires a tool capable of intercepting the target's communication and generating/creating custom packets to impact the communications.
In some variants, the targeted content is altered so that all or some of it is redirected towards content published by the attacker (for example, images and frames in the target's web site might be modified to be loaded from a source controlled by the attacker). In these cases, the attacker requires the necessary resources to host the replacement content.
Consequences
| Impact | Affects | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Modify Data | Integrity | A successful content spoofing attack compromises the integrity of the application data. |
Weaknesses it exploits
- CWE-345 Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity
Recent CVEs with these weaknesses
- 7.4CVE-2026-120999
Improper Authentication vulnerability in Google sign-in and email confirmation in nerves-hub nerves_hub_web allows an attacker who registers another person's email address to share that person's account once they sign in. NervesHub.Account…
- 8.1CVE-2026-123802
SuperTokens Core is an open source authentication server. From 11.3.0 until 11.3.8, 11.4.8, 12.0.11, 12.1.2, 12.2.1, and 12.3.1, a licensed deployment with a configured SAML client can authenticate an identity from an assertion that did no…
- 8.1CVE-2026-115338
Insufficient protection of communications in Progress WS_FTP Server versions prior to 2025.0.5 could allow a network attacker to intercept sensitive information or modify requests when unencrypted connections are used.
- 6.3CVE-2026-123599
Hickory DNS hickory-proto before 0.26.0-beta.1 and hickory-net before 0.26.2 contain a DNSSEC validation bypass because verify_rrsets() ignores DNS class when partitioning RRsets, so non-IN records skip signature verification yet are marke…
- 8.7CVE-2026-123596
Hickory DNS hickory-proto through 0.26.0-alpha.1 and hickory-net 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 contain a DNSSEC validation flaw in the validating recursor's NSEC handler that accepts parent-side ancestor-delegation NSEC records as proof of n…
- 8.7CVE-2026-123595
Hickory DNS hickory-proto 0.25 through 0.26.0-alpha.1 and hickory-net 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 contain a DNSSEC validation flaw in the validating recursor's NSEC3 handler, which matches the closest encloser by hash alone without checkin…
- 6.3CVE-2026-123594
Hickory DNS hickory-proto through 0.26.0-alpha.1 and hickory-net 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 contain an NSEC validation flaw that returns a secure proof for NXDOMAIN responses when the covering NSEC's Next Domain Name is a strict descendan…
- 8.2CVE-2026-123591
Hickory DNS hickory-net 0.26.0-beta.1 before 0.26.2 and hickory-proto through 0.26.0-alpha.1 fail to verify, per RFC 6840 §4.4, that an NSEC or NSEC3 record denying a DS RRset also proves the delegation's NS record exists. Attackers can re…
The newest records naming one of them. Each weakness's page lists them all.
Related attack patterns
MITRE's words, unchanged: CAPEC-148 at MITRE. CAPEC is Copyright © 2007–2026, The MITRE Corporation, used under the CAPEC terms of use: “The MITRE Corporation (MITRE) hereby grants you a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC™) for research, development, and commercial purposes. Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce MITRE’s copyright designation and this license in any such copy.” CAPEC and the CAPEC logo are trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. Credits. All attack patterns.