What is “OWASP Top 10 Most Critical Web Application Security Risks”: Part 2

RapidVPN/ October 22, 2018/ Blog/

In continuation of the last post where we covered the first two points of the “What is “OWASP Top 10 Most Critical Web Application Security Risks”: Part 1,” here are more security risks to be wary of.

 

  1. SENSITIVE DATA EXPOSURE

Many applications and APIs fail to ensure adequate safety measures in protecting confidential information like the login credentials and financial data. Such vulnerable applications would enable a digital attached to steal and use such information for credit card fraud or identity theft.

Managers and developers should protect data in transit to protect it from all types of threats by using strong encryption and the latest algorithms. Also, they should avoid storing sensitive data unnecessarily.

 

  1. XML EXTERNAL ENTITIES (XXE)

A poorly configured processor of Extensible Markup Language (XML) may grant access to attackers to discover internal file shares, execute remote code, carry out internal port scanning. The processor’s purpose is to reach XML documents and act accordingly.

Managers and developers can curtail the flaws of XXE by choosing not to serialize sensitive information and use advanced data formats like JSON. All XML processors the application uses should also be upgraded, and the XML external entity processing in all related parsers must be disabled.

 

  1. BROKEN ACCESS CONTROL

Verified and authorized users are only to be given the freedom when working with the application. Meanwhile, some applications do not enforce strict restrictions, and that allows attackers to take advantage of the oversight to check other users’ accounts and private data.

Managers and developers must enforce access control procedures that will disallow by default. Access control failures should also be logged, and the admins should be notified when there is a need. All the controls must be integrated server-side to be impossible for attackers to tamper with the metadata or control check.

 

  1. SECURITY MISCONFIGURATIONS

These are among the most popular vulnerabilities. Open cloud storage may be responsible for this condition as well as error messages that contain sensitive data, misconfigured HTTP headers, and other forms of vulnerabilities. Such misconfigurations can be exploited by attackers to sign in to admin accounts with default passwords, detect access control inadequacies, and retrieve private or personal data.

The security misconfigurations vulnerability can be prevented by creating a small platform for an application that does not require excessive components and features. Managers and developers should also think of using the automated process and segmented application architecture to examine the efficiency of configurations within the application environment.