# CD-SEC-02 - Account Impersonation

> Apps run under shared or personal identities rather than dedicated, scoped identities.

- **Category**: Owasp Citizen Development
- **Subcategory**: top10
- **Canonical URL**: https://designpattern.fyi/patterns/cdsec02_account_impersonation/

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## Description
'**Intent**: Prevent applications from running under shared or personal identities that obscure accountability and enable privilege escalation.

**Context**: Apps run under a shared or personal identity (the creator's login, a shared service account) rather than a dedicated, scoped identity — so every action any user takes is attributed to one person, and privilege can be silently escalated to whoever built the app.

**Solution**: Apply principle of least privilege on all data/service connections. Use OAuth with explicit user consent instead of embedded personal credentials. Create dedicated service accounts for shared apps with their own behavioral monitoring. Implement audit trails that can identify the actual actor, not just the connection owner.'



## Use Cases
Use when configuring low-code/no-code platforms, AI coding tools, or citizen development environments with external system connections.





## Trade-offs


### Advantages

- Enables proper attribution

- Prevents privilege escalation

- Supports compliance requirements

- Improves audit capabilities




### Considerations & Drawbacks

- Service account management overhead

- OAuth implementation complexity

- May require platform configuration changes







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**Reference**: [Original Source](https://owasp.org/www-project-citizen-development-top10-security-risks/)