# 1) Vertical Access Control

It is a mechanism that restricts access to sensitive functionality to specific types of users.

For example: An ADMIN can modify/delete any user's account,  while an ordinary user has no access to these actions.

## Example of broken vertical access controls

If a user can gain access to functionality that they are not permitted to access then this is vertical privilege escalation. 

### 1) Unprotected Functionality

This arises when application does not enforce any protection for sensitive functionality.

Example:  *Administrative functions might be linked from an administrator's welcome page but not from a user's welcome page. However, a user might be able to access the administrative functions by browsing to the relevant admin URL.*

```
https://insecure-website.com/admin
```

In some cases, the administrative URL might be disclosed in other locations, such as the <mark style="background-color:green;">robots.txt</mark> file:

```
https://insecure-website.com/robots.txt
```

In some cases, sensitive functionality is concealed by giving it a less predictable URL. This is an example of so-called "security by obscurity".

&#x20;However, by hiding the functionality does not not provide effective access control because the use might discover the obfuscated URL in number of ways.&#x20;

Example, while skimming through the scripts of an application, user can found the logic of redirecting to admin page URL  if user is admin.&#x20;

### 2) Parameter based access control methods

Some applications determine the user's access rights or role at login, and then store this information in a user-controllable location. This could be:

* A hidden field.
* A cookie.
* A preset query string parameter.

```
https://insecure-website.com/login/home.jsp?admin=true
https://insecure-website.com/login/home.jsp?role=1
```

###


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