[ISN] Want to know the ten most critical web app vulnerabilities?

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Wed Jan 15 2003 - 04:17:52 PST

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    http://212.100.234.54/content/55/28862.html
    
    By John Leyden
    Posted: 14/01/2003 
    
    An open source security group has put together a helpful list of the 
    ten most critical web application security vulnerabilities. 
    
    Although plenty of attention is given to the nuisance of viruses and 
    the risks posed by insecure firewall configuration, application 
    security is arguably an even more important risk area. The checklist 
    from the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is therefore a 
    timely reminder of the types of problems people can run into in the 
    application security arena. 
    
    The list, designed to help organizations understand and improve the 
    security of their web applications and web services, is a worthwhile 
    pointer for both Web developers and vendors. 
    
    OWASP's top risks list 
    
    1. Invalidated parameters: Failure to validate information from a Web 
       requests before these are used by a Web application. Attackers can 
       use these flaws to attack backend systems through a Web application. 
    
    2. Broken access control: Restrictions on what authenticated users 
       are allowed to do are often not properly enforced. Attacks use this 
       to access other users' accounts, view sensitive files or run 
       unauthorised functions. 
    
    3. Broken account and session management: Account credentials and 
       session tokens left without proper protection, leading to the 
       risk that crackers could assume victims' identities. 
    
    4. Cross-site scripting flaws: A modern classic - mistakes here mean 
       Web applications can be used as a mechanism to steal session tokens, 
       attack a local machine or spoof content. 
    
    5. Buffer overflows: Arguable the most common type of security risk 
       (so why isn't it number one? Ed). Sloppy programming means 
       applications fail to properly validate inputs - so maliciously 
       constructed, malformed requests can crash a process and be used to 
       inject hostile code into target machines. 
    
    6. Command injection flaws: If an attacker can embed malicious 
       commands in parameters passed to external systems these may be 
       executed on behalf of a web application, to unpleasant effect. 
    
    7. Error handling problems: If an attacker can cause errors which are 
       improperly handled, all manner of mischief (information disclosure, 
       system crashes etc.) might be possible. 
    
    8. Insecure use of cryptography: Web apps frequently use cryptography. 
       If that's not coded properly, sensitive information won't be adequately 
       protected. 
    
    9. Remote administration flaws: If remote Web admin tools are 
       insecure then an attacker stands a chance of gaining full access to 
       all aspects of a site. 
    
    10. Web and application server misconfiguration: Don't trust out of 
        the box security 
    
    
    OWASP says the flaws is highlights are "surprisingly common and can be 
    exploited by unsophisticated attackers with easily available tools". 
    
    "When an organization deploys a web application, they invite the world 
    to send HTTP requests. Attacks buried in these requests sail past 
    firewalls, filters, platform hardening, SSL, and IDS without notice 
    because they are inside legal HTTP requests. Therefore, web 
    application code is part of the security perimeter and cannot be 
    ignored," it adds. 
    
    Indeed. 
    
    
    
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