Top ten web application security bugs 2007

9 April 2007

The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is dedicated to finding and fighting the causes of insecure software. As part of their work, they have recently released the Top Ten Web Application Security Vulnerabilities for 2007.

Top Ten Security Flaws for 2007

• Cross scripting: user inputted data that is not validate or encoded first.
• Injection flaws: the most popular is 'SQL Injection', an injection occurs when user-supplied data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query.
• Malicious file execution: Code vulnerable to remote file inclusion allows attackers to include hostile code and data, resulting in devastating attacks, such as total server compromise.
• Insecure direct object reference: A direct object reference occurs when a developer exposes a reference to an internal implementation object, such as a file, directory, database record, or key, as a URL or form parameter. Attackers can manipulate those references to access other objects without authorization.
• Cross site request forgery (CSRF): A CSRF attack forces a logged-on victim’s browser to send a pre-authenticated request to a vulnerable web application, which then forces the victim’s browser to perform a hostile action to the benefit of the attacker.
• Information leakage and improper error handling: Applications can unintentionally leak information about their configuration, internal workings, or violate privacy through a variety of application problems. Attackers use this weakness to violate privacy, or conduct further attacks.
• Broken authentication and session management: Account credentials and session tokens are often not properly protected. Attackers compromise passwords, keys, or authentication tokens to assume other users’ identities.
• Insecure cryptographic storage: Web applications rarely use cryptographic functions properly to protect data and credentials. Attackers use weakly protected data to conduct identity theft and other crimes, such as credit card fraud.
• Insecure communications: Applications frequently fail to encrypt network traffic when it is necessary to protect sensitive communications.
• Failure to restrict URL access: Frequently, the only protection for sensitive areas of an application is links or URLs are not presented to unauthorized users. Attackers can use this weakness to access and perform unauthorized operations.

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