With the OWASP Top Ten 2024 project set to release in September, we thought it would be a good time to look at the most common vulnerabilities facing web applications over the last few years. This will give you a good chance to prepare and adjust the security of your web apps before the new list is published.
1. Access control issues
Broken access control held the top spot in the OWASP Top 10 from 2021, and it remains a critical concern. A large portion of web applications are still vulnerable to improper enforcement of user permissions, which can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data and functionality.
Broken access control occurs when an application does not properly enforce restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do.
Let’s take a web application that has different roles for users, such as regular users and administrators. If the application does not correctly enforce access control, a regular user might be able to access administrative functions by simply changing the URL from /user/settings to /admin/settings. This could allow the user to perform administrative actions, such as modifying other users’ data or changing system configurations, which they should not have permission to do.
Mitigation: Implement role-based access control (RBAC) and enforce the principle of least privilege (PoLP). Regularly audit permissions and use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for sensitive operations.
2. Injection attacks
An injection attack can happen when a web application cannot properly validate or sanitize user inputs, allowing an attacker to insert malicious code into the application’s commands or queries.
Popular injections attacks include:
- SQL injection: Inserting malicious SQL queries into input fields to manipulate or access the database. It occurs when the web application doesn’t validate or sanitize user inputs.
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): XSS occurs when an attacker uses a web application to send malicious code, typically in the form of a browser-side script, to another user. The malicious code executes in the user’s browser, allowing the attacker to steal session tokens, manipulate web content, or perform other malicious activities.
- Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF): An attacker tricks a server into making unauthorized requests to internal or external systems. SSRF vulnerabilities occur when a web application accepts untrusted user input and uses it to construct requests to other systems without proper validation.
Mitigation: Implement input validation and sanitization to ensure all inputs conform with accepted formats and that they’re free of characters or strings that could inject malicious code into the application. Output data should be encoded to prevent it from being interpreted as executable code. This can be achieved with a library such as the OWASP Java Encoder.
3. API abuse
As applications increasingly rely on APIs to enable communication between different services and platforms, the risk of API abuse has grown significantly. According to a 2023 Ponemon Institute study, more than half of IT and IT security professionals find it challenging to discover and inventory all APIs with the numerous third-party connections involved.
An example of an API vulnerability is when an attacker can exploit an API by sending a high volume of requests to bypass rate limits and extract sensitive data. A great resource for learning about API threats is the OWASP API Security Top 10 from 2023.
Mitigation: The first step in ensuring API security is implementing authentication and authorization to ensure only legitimate users and services can have access. Next, introduce rate limiting to control the number of requests within a specific timeframe. Tokens should be validated on the server side to detect manipulation and should have an expiration mechanism to limit their validity period.
4. Security misconfigurations
Misconfigurations can occur at any level of the application stack, from the server to the APIs and the application itself. Coud-based applications are are particularly vulnerable to misconfiguration, especially during cloud migration due to the complexity and the myriad of configuration options available. Misconfigurations open up gaps within your application, creating potential entry points for attackers to exploit.
Some of the most common misconfigurations include:
- Using default credentials
- Insecure default settings
- Enabling unnecessary features
- Outdated software and libraries, etc.
Mitigation: Conduct regular reviews of configuration settings, both with human oversight and automated tools to quickly identify and remediate misconfigurations. Adhere to industry-standard frameworks and guidelines, such as the CIS Benchmarks to guide secure configuration practices.
5. AI-driven attacks
Artificial intelligence has taken a huge leap since 2021, resulting in a surge of AI-driven attacks. These attacks utilize advanced AI/ML algorithms to automate and enhance the capabilities of traditional cyberattacks, making them more sophisticated, targeted, and difficult to detect.
With these tools, attackers can detect software vulnerabilities more quickly and accurately, exploit them at scale, and even adapt their methods in real time to bypass security measures. This makes web applications particularly vulnerable, as AI-driven attacks can efficiently identify and exploit weaknesses in code, configuration, and user behavior,
Additionally, generative AI is helping attackers create highly believable phishing campaigns, leading to a 58% surge of phishing attacks in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Mitigation: The only way to counter the power of AI is to use it to your advantage. Implement AI-powered threat detection systems to identify and respond to anomalies in real-time. Continuously monitor and analyze user and system behavior with AI to detect deviations that may indicate security breaches.
6. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
This type of attacks forces an already authenticated user to unknowingly execute unwanted actions on a web application. By exploiting the user’s authenticated session, an attacker can trick the user into performing actions such as changing account settings, making unauthorized transactions, or even escalating privileges.
The way this typically works is that the attacker creates a malicious request and tricks the user into submitting it, usually through social engineering techniques like phishing emails or malicious links. When the user, who is already authenticated, clicks on the malicious link or loads the attacker’s webpage, the request is sent to the target web application with the user’s session cookies automatically included.
Mitigation: Store a secret token in a hidden form field that third-party sites cannot access. It’s important to validate this hidden field to ensure its authenticity. You could also prompt for a password before allowing modifications to sensitive settings, such as changing a password reminder email. This can prevent the exploitation of abandoned sessions on public computers.
7. Broken authentication
Authentication mechanisms can be complex to implement and maintain, often leading to vulnerabilities if not properly handled. Broken authentication occurs in various forms, such as weak password policies, insecure session handling, or lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA).
For example, an application may lack a JWT (JSON Web Token) signature check, which allows a malicious actor to modify their own JWT and use the resulting token to perform various actions inside the account.
Mitigation: Use secure methods for generating, storing, and invalidating session tokens. Always verify the signature of JWTs to ensure their integrity and authenticity. Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing to identify and fix authentication vulnerabilities.
8. Supply chain vulnerabilities
Apart from the native code, web applications often rely on third-party components, libraries, and frameworks to enhance functionality and speed up development. Sometimes, these components contain known vulnerabilities that have not been patched or updated, giving an open door to attackers to compromise the application.
There are many examples of high-profile breaches resulting from vulnerable third-party components. You can visit OP Innovate’s Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) page for the latest updates on recent publicly-known vulnerabilities.
Mitigation: Track all third-party components you use and regularly update them. Disable all that are not in use, and only install trusted trusted components from reputable sources. Use automated tools to monitor for known vulnerabilities and receive alerts for any issues. Implement measures to increase transparency and traceability in the software supply chain, such as maintaining a software bill of materials (SBOM).
9. Brute-force attacks
A brute-force attack involves systematically trying every possible combination of letters, numbers, and symbols to guess a password correctly. If your website requires user authentication, it can be an attractive target for brute-force attacks.
Attackers often use readily available tools that employ wordlists and intelligent rulesets to automatically and efficiently guess user passwords. While these attacks can be detected relatively easily, preventing them can be challenging.
Mitigation: Limit login attempts to prevent repeated guesses. Using CAPTCHA will help differentiate between human users and automated scripts and slow down automated attempts to guess passwords. Additionally, consider installing Web Application FIrewalls (WAF) and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) to detect and block brute-force attempts.
10. DDoS attacks
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are a popular method attackers use to overwhelm an application’s resources by flooding it with an enormous volume of traffic. These attacks will destabilize the application, making it unusable for regular users.
Mitigation: Limit the amount of traffic allowed from a single source. Distribute traffic across multiple servers to ensure no single server bears the brunt of a potential attack. Use cloud services that can scale resources dynamically to handle traffic spikes.
Are you susceptible to one or more of these vulnerabilities? Find out with OP Innovate WASP
Ensuring web application security is a never-ending process. New vulnerabilities and attack vectors emerge daily, requiring a proactive solution to stay on top of potential threats.
One such solution is the OP Innovate Web Application Security (WASP) platform, which provides a 360-view into your attack surface.
Tailored specifically for application security, WASP combines code analysis and expert-level vulnerability triage, and remediation solutions that integrate with your development workflow to deliver full lifecycle visibility and management.
Create your free trial account now to get started!
