Web Security Vulnerabilities

Cybersecurity is a field that continually evolves with technology. Protecting web applications involves safeguarding against a myriad of vulnerabilities that malicious actors can exploit. Here’s a list of ten common web security vulnerabilities you should be aware of:

1. Injection Flaws

Injection flaws, such as SQL, NoSQL, OS, and LDAP injection, occur when an attacker sends invalid data to the web application with the intent of manipulating or querying the backend database. SQL injection is the most notorious, where the attacker can read sensitive data from the database, modify database data, and even execute admin operations on the database.

2. Broken Authentication

Broken authentication occurs when application functions related to authentication and session management are not implemented correctly, allowing attackers to compromise passwords, keys, or session tokens, or to exploit other implementation flaws to assume other users’ identities.

3. Sensitive Data Exposure

Sensitive data exposure is the non-secure storage or transmission of sensitive data like passwords, credit card numbers, or health records. Without proper encryption, this data can be intercepted or breached.

4. XML External Entities (XXE)

Older or improperly configured XML processors evaluate external entity references within XML documents. Attackers could disclose internal files and data, conduct DoS attacks, or server-side request forgery to extract or manipulate data.

5. Broken Access Control

Restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are often not properly enforced. Attackers can exploit these flaws to access unauthorized functionality and/or data, such as accessing other users’ accounts, viewing sensitive files, modifying other users’ data, and changing access rights.

6. Security Misconfigurations

The most common issue is a security misconfiguration, which occurs when security settings are defined, implemented, and maintained as defaults, or are incomplete or misconfigured. This vulnerability can lead to unauthorized access and data breaches.

7. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Cross-Site Scripting flaws occur whenever an application includes untrusted data in a new web page without proper validation or escaping, allowing attackers to execute scripts in the victim’s browser, which can hijack user sessions, deface web sites, or redirect the user to malicious sites.

8. Insecure Deserialization

Insecure deserialization often leads to remote code execution. Even if deserialization flaws do not result in remote code execution, they can be used to perform attacks, including replay attacks, injection attacks, and privilege escalation attacks.

9. Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities

Components, such as libraries, frameworks, and other software modules, run with the same privileges as the application. If a vulnerable component is exploited, such an attack can facilitate serious data loss or server takeover.

10. Insufficient Logging and Monitoring

Insufficient logging and monitoring, coupled with missing or ineffective integration with incident response, allows attackers to further attack systems, maintain persistence, pivot to more systems, and tamper, extract, or destroy data.

These vulnerabilities outline the necessity for regular security audits, the application of best practices in coding and configuration, and staying informed regarding new vulnerabilities and protective strategies. With proactive measures, web applications can be better safeguarded against potential threats.