Published: 01 December 2022    Last Updated: 23 December 2022

First of all, what is username enumeration? It is when a web application has a feature that allows a user to supply a username and the application will disclose (not necessarily intentionally) if the username is valid or not. This is closely related to Username Disclosure, except in the latter the application is including valid usernames in server responses in some way, which allows an attacker to determine a username is valid without having to specify it first themselves. Both of these are an issue and both should be addressed.