OSWAP Top 10 Vulnaribilities

Introduction

As I continue my journey into cybersecurity, one of the key areas I’ve been researching is web application security. The Open Web Aapplication Security Project (OSWAP) Top 10 is an essential framework for understanding the most critical security vulnerabilities affecting web applications today. First compiled in 2003, it has evolved into a de facto standard for both developers and security professionals. It serves as a baseline awareness document for developers, security professionals, and organizations, helping them prioritize security controls.

The 2021 update of OWASP Top 10 introduced new risks and restructured some of the previous categories to reflect modern threats. For example:

• Broken Access Control moved to the #1 spot, highlighting its prevalence in applications.
• Insecure Design was introduced to emphasize the need for security by design rather than just reactive fixes.
• Software and Data Integrity Failures was added, addressing the rise in supply chain attacks like SolarWinds.

Given my background in network traffic analysis, security scripting, and threat detection, I wanted to explore how these vulnerabilities manifest in the real world, what security professionals can do to prevent them, and how my expertise plays a role in identifying and mitigating such risks.

Ocerview of OWASP Top 10 (2021 Edition)

The OWASP Top 10 is divided into 10 major categories, each representing a type of vulnerability commonly exploited in real-world attacks. Below is my analysis of each category, how attackers exploit them, and the defensive strategies we can apply.

1. Broken Access Control (A01:2021)

Impact: Attackers can gain unauthorized access to systems, modify data, or escalate privileges.

Common Exploits:

• Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR): Changing a URL parameter (e.g., user_id=123) to access another user’s data.
• Privilege escalation: Exploiting misconfigured user roles or API flaws to perform admin actions.

Case Study:

The 2019 First American Financial breach exposed 885 million records because the system didn’t verify user permissions when retrieving documents.

Mitigation:

• Implement least privilege access.
• Use role-based access control (RBAC) and deny access by default.
• Perform automated access control tests and penetration tests to identify flaws.

Read more…Broken Access Control

2. Cryptographic Failures (A02:2021)

Impact: Sensitive data exposure, credentials theft, and compliance violations.

Common Exploits:

• Storing passwords in plaintext.
• Using weak encryption algorithms (e.g., MD5, SHA-1).
• Failing to enforce TLS/SSL encryption.

Case Study:

Yahoo’s massive breach (2013) resulted in 3 billion accounts being compromised due to weak password hashing (MD5).

Mitigation:

• Use AES-256 for encryption and bcrypt or Argon2 for password hashing.
• Implement TLS 1.2+ for secure communications.
• Store encryption keys securely, never hardcoded.

Read more…Cryptographic Failure

3. Injection Attacks (A03:2021)

Impact: Attackers execute malicious commands via user inputs, often leading to data exfiltration or system compromise.

Common Exploits:

• SQL Injection: OR ‘1’=’1’–
• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): Injecting JavaScript to steal cookies or deface websites.

Case Study:

The TalkTalk breach (2015) happened due to SQL injection, exposing ~157,000 customer records.

Mitigation:

• Use prepared statements and parameterized queries to prevent SQLi.
• Sanitize and encode user inputs to prevent XSS.
• Deploy Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) for additional protection.

4. Insecure Design (A04:2021)

Impact: Security weaknesses arise from poor system design, leading to exploitable logic flaws, privilege escalation, and data breaches.

Common Exploits:

• Lack of rate limiting – Brute-force attacks and enumeration become easy.
• Weak authentication flows – Poorly designed multi-factor authentication (MFA) mechanisms that can be bypassed.
• Unprotected sensitive operations – No additional verification for high-risk actions like password resets.

Case Study:

Lack of rate limiting in Apple’s Find My iPhone API allowed hackers to brute-force passwords, leading to the iCloud Celebgate breach (2014).

Mitigation:

• Integrate threat modeling into design phases.
• Follow secure design patterns, such as Zero Trust and least privilege.
• Test system workflows for abuse cases before deployment.

5. Security Misconfiguration (A05:2021)

Impact: Exposed databases, default credentials, and misconfigured security settings.

Common Exploits:

• Exposed S3 buckets – Publicly accessible cloud storage leaking sensitive data.
• Default credentials left unchanged – Attackers use vendor defaults to access systems.
• Verbose error messages – Provide attackers with internal system details.

Case Study:

Capita (2023) and PwC Nigeria both suffered data leaks due to misconfigured AWS S3 buckets.

Mitigation:

• Disable default accounts, services, and unnecessary features.
• Use automated security scanning to detect misconfigurations.
• Apply hardened configurations for cloud and infrastructure.

6. Vulnerable & Outdated Components (A06:2021)

Impact: Using unpatched or unsupported software exposes applications to known exploits, leading to remote code execution and data breaches.

Common Exploits:

• Unpatched web frameworks (e.g., Apache Struts, Spring, WordPress plugins).
• Outdated JavaScript libraries (e.g., jQuery, Angular) with known security flaws.
• Dependency Confusion – Attackers upload malicious packages with names similar to internal dependencies.

Case Study:

Equifax breach (2017)—Hackers exploited an unpatched Apache Struts vulnerability, exposing 147 million records.

Mitigation:

• Maintain an inventory of software components.
• Use Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools to track dependencies.
• Apply patches and updates promptly.

7. Identification & Authentication Failures (A07:2021)

Impact: Weak authentication mechanisms allow attackers to bypass login security, steal credentials, and take over accounts.

Common Exploits:

• Password reuse attacks – Users reuse breached passwords across multiple services.
• Session hijacking – Weak session management leads to unauthorized access.
• Brute-force login attempts – Lack of account lockouts allows attackers to guess passwords.

Case Study:

Disney+ (2019) accounts were hacked because users reused passwords from previous breaches.

Mitigation:

• Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA).
• Use secure session management and password hashing (bcrypt/Argon2).
• Implement rate limiting and CAPTCHA to prevent brute-force attacks.

8. Software & Data Integrity Failures (A08:2021)

Impact: Attackers inject malicious code into software updates or CI/CD pipelines, compromising thousands of downstream users.

Common Exploits:

• Compromised CI/CD pipeline – Attackers inject malicious code into builds.
• Tampered software updates – Fake updates serve malware.
• Unverified third-party dependencies – Malicious packages inserted into software supply chains.

Case Study:

SolarWinds hack (2020)—Hackers injected malicious code into software updates, affecting 18,000 organizations.

Mitigation:

• Use code signing and hash verification for updates.
• Protect CI/CD pipelines from supply chain attacks.

9. Security Logging & Monitoring Failures (A09:2021)

Impact: Inadequate logging and monitoring allow attackers to persist undetected, prolonging breaches and delaying incident response.

Common Exploits:

• Brute-force login attempts go undetected.
• Failed logins & privilege escalations not logged.
• Attackers delete logs to cover tracks

Case Study:

The 2013 Target breach was flagged by security tools, but logs were ignored, leading to 40 million credit cards stolen.

Mitigation:

• Use SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tools.
• Implement real-time alerting for suspicious activity.
• Store logs in tamper-proof locations.

10. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) (A10:2021)

Impact: Attackers trick servers into making unauthorized internal requests, accessing sensitive data.

Common Exploits:

• Bypassing firewalls to access internal APIs.
• Reading cloud metadata (AWS, Azure) to steal credentials.

Case Study:

Capital One (2019)—Hackers exploited SSRF to access AWS metadata and steal 100M records.

Mitigation:

• Validate user-supplied URLs, block private/internal IPs.
• Use firewalls and allow-lists to restrict outgoing requests

How My Skills Tie Into the OWASP Top 10 & My Current Project

As I work on my cybersecurity projects, I see clear connections between my expertise and how I can apply these skills to detect, prevent, and mitigate OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities. Here’s how my knowledge enhances security and how my project contributes to addressing these threats:

1. Network Traffic Analysis: By monitoring network traffic and analyzing logs, I can detect SQL injection attempts, SSRF exploitation, and unauthorized access attempts. My project can implement real-time packet inspection to flag and block suspicious requests before they cause harm.

2. Security Scripting: Automation is key in cybersecurity. My scripting skills allow me to automate security assessments, scan for misconfigurations, and proactively test for vulnerabilities in applications. By integrating custom security scripts, my project can continuously monitor for weak access controls, outdated components, and common misconfigurations.

3. Threat Detection & Logging: Implementing SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) alerts and behavioral monitoring in my project enables early detection of abnormal activities, such as brute-force attacks, privilege escalations, or lateral movement within a network. Enhancing logging mechanisms helps to catch and respond to security incidents more effectively.

By leveraging these skills, my project not only improves overall attack detection and prevention but also provides actionable security insights to mitigate OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities before they are exploited.

Next Steps: Areas I Plan to Explore

As I continue developing my expertise in cybersecurity, I want to focus on emerging security challenges and best practices that go beyond traditional web application security. The following areas will be my next deep dives:

• API Security & OWASP API Security Top 10 – With APIs becoming the backbone of modern applications, understanding vulnerabilities like broken object-level authorization (BOLA) and API misconfigurations is crucial. I’ll explore best practices for securing API endpoints, enforcing authentication, and preventing API-specific attacks.

• Zero Trust Security Models – The traditional perimeter-based security model is no longer sufficient in today’s dynamic environments. I’ll explore how Zero Trust principles (continuous authentication, least privilege access, micro-segmentation) can prevent unauthorized access and lateral movement within networks.

• Cloud Security & DevSecOps Best Practices – As more organizations migrate to the cloud, security risks associated with misconfigurations, identity management, and supply chain threats increase. I plan to study cloud-native security strategies, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) security, and how DevSecOps can integrate security into CI/CD pipelines.

These topics align with real-world security challenges and will help me refine my ability to build, test, and secure applications and networks effectively. Stay tuned for upcoming deep-dive articles where I’ll analyze these topics in detail, explore real-world breaches, and apply hands-on security techniques to address them.