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Abusing OAuth for Account Takeover: When Trust Becomes a Weapon



OAuth is that smooth sign-in button you love — “Log in with Google”, “Continue with Microsoft”. But attackers love it too… for the wrong reasons.

Here’s the play:
If an app’s OAuth flow isn’t locked down, an attacker can:

  • Trick users into authorizing malicious apps
  • Steal tokens and hijack sessions
  • Chain OAuth abuse with phishing for full account takeover

The scary part? No password needed. OAuth trust does the dirty work.

Defensive moves:

  • Always validate redirect URIs
  • Don’t allow wildcard domains
  • Limit scopes and revoke unused tokens
  • Educate users — they shouldn't just click “Allow” on anything shiny

OAuth isn’t broken — but misconfigurations and blind trust make it abusable.
And attackers know exactly where to look.

Cyber Protection Academy dropping real-world exploit game