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• October 7, 2024
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The OWASP Top 10 for 2024 list comprises top security risks issued to web applications. Let’s explore each vulnerability and approach for addressing them: 

What is Application Security Vulnerability? 

In simple words, it’s like a crack in a  wall, a sneaky weakness that lets cybercriminals slip through your application. Then, this is up to them what they want to do. Application vulnerabilities pose a serious threat to the sacred trio of information security: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. 

Top 10 OWASP Application Security List 

Here is a detailed list of OWASP Application Security Vulnerabilities and how to prevent them. 

1. Broken Access Control

Broken access control features at the top of the list. It occurs when applications fail to properly restrict the user’s access to resources he wasn’t supposed to see. 

By exploiting these loopholes, an attacker can get unrestricted access to other customers’ data or perform certain actions he has not been authorized to perform.

• Use  deny-by-default for resources not intended to be public. 
• Minimize Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS). 
• Set monitoring and alerts for suspicious user access. 
• Use rate limiting to prevent brute force attacks. 
• Ensure metadata and backup files are not present in web roots. 

2. Cryptographic Failures

Cryptographic failures encompass issues related to improper implementation or use of cryptographic protocols. These application vulnerabilities can lead to exposure of sensitive data, even when encryption is in place.

To mitigate cryptographic failures:

• Use strong, up-to-date encryption algorithms. 
• Implement proper key management practices.
• Avoid using deprecated cryptographic protocols. 
• Regularly update and patch cryptographic libraries. 

3. Injection

Put simply, the injection vulnerabilities, including SQL, NoSQL, OS command, and LDAP injection, pose significant threats to application security. These vulnerabilities occur when untrusted data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query.

To prevent injection attacks:

• Use parameterized queries for database interactions. 
• Implement input validation and sanitization. 
• Utilize prepared statements and stored procedures. 
• Apply the principle of least privilege to database accounts. 

4. Insecure Design

Insecure design is a fundamental issue in application development. This flaw highlights the importance of including security thoughts in every stage of software development.

• Enhance weak design:
• Do threat modelling in the design stage.
• Put security measures in place at various levels.
• Utilize secure design templates and frameworks.

5. Security Misconfiguration

Security misconfiguration remains a prevalent issue, often resulting from incomplete or ad-hoc configurations. This can include misconfigured cloud services, unnecessary open ports, or default credentials left unchanged.

The insecure design vulnerability cannot  be fixed through  perfect implementation.

To deal with the security misconfigurations:

• Implement secure configuration baseline. 
• Regularly audit and update security settings. 
• Use automated configuration management tools. 
• Implement the principle of least functionality. 

6. Vulnerable and Outdated Components

The use of components with known vulnerabilities continues to be a significant risk. This includes outdated libraries, frameworks, and other software modules that may contain security flaws.

To mitigate this vulnerability:

• Maintain an up-to-date inventory of all components.
• Implement automated dependency scanning.
• Establish a patch management process.
• Use software composition analysis (SCA) tools.

7. Identification and Authentication Failures

Weaknesses in authentication mechanisms can lead to unauthorized access to systems and data. This includes issues such as weak password policies, improper session management, and inadequate multi-factor authentication implementations.

To strengthen identification and authentication:

• Implement strong password policies. 
• Use multi-factor authentication. 
• Employ secure session management techniques.
• Implement account lockout mechanisms. 

8. Software and Data Integrity Failures

Software and data integrity vulnerability category encompasses issues related to code and data integrity, including insecure deserialization and the use of untrusted data in security decisions.

To ensure software and data integrity:

• Implement integrity checks for critical data
• Use digital signatures for code and updates
• Validate and sanitize all input data
• Implement secure deserialization practices

9. Security Logging and Monitoring Failures

Inadequate logging and monitoring can lead to delayed detection of security incidents or complete failure to detect breaches. This vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining visibility into application and system activities.

To improve logging and monitoring:

• Implement comprehensive logging for security-relevant events.
• Use centralized log management systems. 
• Establish real-time alerting for suspicious activities. 
• Regularly review and analyze security logs. 

10. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

SSRF vulnerabilities allow attackers to induce the server-side application to make HTTP requests to an arbitrary domain of the attacker’s choosing. This can lead to unauthorized actions or access to internal resources.

To prevent SSRF:

• Implement strict input validation for URLs
• Use allow lists for permitted domains and IP ranges
• Disable unnecessary URL schemas
• Implement network segmentation to isolate critical systems

Conclusion 

Given the wide array of application security vulnerabilities that any modern-day entity has to deal with, it is fair to state that managing this challenge should be viewed as an ongoing affair for nearly every organisation that exists in the current digital realm. The reason for this is that any entity that develops or uses application solutions should have expertise in the most impactful application security vulnerabilities.