What is the OWASP Top 10?

The OWASP Top 10 is a standard awareness document published by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). It represents a broad consensus about the most critical security risks to web applications. Updated periodically, this list helps organizations focus their security efforts on the most significant threats.

1. Broken Access Control (2021: A01)

Access control enforces policy such that users cannot act outside of their intended permissions. Failures typically lead to unauthorized information disclosure, modification, or destruction of data.

  • Bypassing access control checks by modifying the URL or HTML page
  • Allowing viewing or editing someone else's account by providing its unique identifier
  • Accessing API with missing access controls for POST, PUT and DELETE

Prevention: Implement proper access controls, deny by default, and validate user permissions for every request.

2. Cryptographic Failures (2021: A02)

Previously known as Sensitive Data Exposure, this category focuses on failures related to cryptography (or lack thereof), which often leads to exposure of sensitive data.

  • Transmitting sensitive data in clear text
  • Using weak cryptographic algorithms
  • Using default or weak keys for cryptographic functions

Prevention: Encrypt all sensitive data at rest and in transit, use strong algorithms, and properly manage keys.

3. Injection (2021: A03)

Injection flaws, such as SQL, NoSQL, OS, and LDAP injection, occur when untrusted data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query.

  • SQL injection attacks
  • Cross-site scripting (XSS)
  • Command injection

Prevention: Use parameterized queries, validate and sanitize user input, and escape special characters.

4. Insecure Design (2021: A04)

A new category focusing on risks related to design and architectural flaws, emphasizing the need for secure design patterns, threat modeling, and reference architectures.

  • Missing security controls
  • Poor business logic decisions
  • Inadequate security requirements

Prevention: Implement secure design patterns, conduct threat modeling, and establish security requirements early in development.

5. Security Misconfiguration (2021: A05)

Security misconfiguration is the most commonly seen issue, often resulting from insecure default configurations, incomplete configurations, or verbose error messages.

  • Unnecessary features enabled or installed
  • Default accounts and passwords
  • Overly informative error messages

Prevention: Implement secure configuration processes, minimal platforms, and regular security patching.

6. Vulnerable and Outdated Components (2021: A06)

Using components with known vulnerabilities can undermine application defenses and enable various attacks.

  • Outdated or unsupported components
  • Not scanning for vulnerabilities regularly
  • Not fixing or upgrading underlying platforms

Prevention: Remove unused dependencies, regularly update components, and use software composition analysis tools.

7. Identification and Authentication Failures (2021: A07)

Previously known as Broken Authentication, this category covers weaknesses in authentication mechanisms that allow attackers to assume other users' identities.

  • Weak password requirements
  • Weak or ineffective credential recovery
  • Missing multi-factor authentication

Prevention: Implement strong authentication controls, session management, and password policies.

8. Software and Data Integrity Failures (2021: A08)

This category focuses on making assumptions related to software updates, critical data, and CI/CD pipelines without verifying integrity.

  • Unsigned auto-updates
  • Insecure CI/CD pipelines
  • Using dependencies from untrusted sources

Prevention: Use digital signatures, verify integrity, and secure your software supply chain.

9. Security Logging and Monitoring Failures (2021: A09)

Insufficient logging and monitoring, coupled with missing or ineffective integration with incident response, allows attackers to further attack systems and maintain persistence.

  • Missing or ineffective monitoring
  • Unclear or missing log messages
  • Logs not being monitored for suspicious activity

Prevention: Implement effective monitoring, alerting, and incident response procedures.

10. Server-Side Request Forgery (2021: A10)

SSRF flaws occur whenever a web application is fetching a remote resource without validating the user-supplied URL.

  • Accessing internal services through public-facing applications
  • Bypassing firewall restrictions
  • Accessing cloud services metadata

Prevention: Validate and sanitize all user-supplied input data, enforce URL schemas, and use allowlists.

Implementing Protection Against OWASP Top 10

To protect against these vulnerabilities, organizations should:

  • Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing
  • Implement secure coding practices and guidelines
  • Use security tools and frameworks that address these vulnerabilities
  • Provide security training to development teams
  • Maintain an up-to-date security policy
  • Regularly update and patch systems and components
Remember: Security is an ongoing process, not a one-time implementation. Regular assessment and updates of security measures are essential to maintain strong protection against evolving threats.

Conclusion

Understanding and addressing the OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities is crucial for maintaining secure web applications. By focusing on these critical security risks and implementing appropriate countermeasures, organizations can significantly improve their security posture and better protect their applications and data from common attack vectors.