Insufficient entropy is when crypto algorithms do not have enough randomness as input into the algorithm, resulting in an encrypted output that could be weaker than intended. Broken Access Control is when an application does not correctly implement a policy that controls what objects a given subject can access owasp proactive controls within the application. An object is a resource defined in terms of attributes it possesses, operations it performs or are performed on it, and its relationship with other objects. A subject is an individual, process, or device that causes information to flow among objects or change the system state.

• Two great examples of secure defaults in most web frameworks are web views that encode output by default (providing XSS attack defenses) as well as built-in protection against Cross-Site Request Forgeries.
• Broken Access Control is when an application does not correctly implement a policy that controls what objects a given subject can access within the application.
• It’s highly likely that access control requirements take shape throughout many layers of your application.
• Make sure you track the use of open source libraries and maintain an inventory of versions, their licenses and vulnerabilities such as OWASP’s top 10 vulnerabilities using tools like OWASP’s Dependency Check or Snyk.

Does the application terminate safely when an access control check fails, even under abnormal conditions? This cheatsheet will help users of the OWASP Proactive Controls identify which cheatsheets map to each proactive controls item. This mapping is based the OWASP Proactive Controls version 3.0 (2018). Security misconfiguration is when an important step to secure an application or system is skipped intentionally or forgotten. Cryptographic failures are breakdowns in the use of cryptography within an application, stemming from the use of broken or risky crypto algorithms, hard-coded (default) passwords, or insufficient entropy (randomness).

A04:2021 – Insecure Design¶

In this series, I’m going to introduce the OWASP Top 10 Proactive Controls one at a time to present concepts that will make your code more resilient and enable your code to defend itself against would-be attackers. When possible, I’ll also show you how to create CodeQL queries to help you ensure that you’re correctly applying these concepts and enforcing the application of these proactive controls throughout your code. The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is a 501c3 non for profit educational charity dedicated to enabling organizations to design, develop, acquire, operate, and maintain secure software. All OWASP tools, documents, forums, and chapters are free and open to anyone interested in improving application security. As a security concept, Least Privileges refers to the principle of assigning users only the minimum privileges necessary to complete their job. Although perhaps most commonly applied in system administration, this principle has relevance to the software developer as well.

It represents a broad consensus about the most critical security risks to web applications. As software becomes the foundation of our digital—and sometimes even physical—lives, software security is increasingly important. But developers have a lot on their plates and asking them to become familiar with every single vulnerability category under the sun isn’t always feasible. Even for security practitioners, it’s overwhelming to keep up with every new vulnerability, attack vector, technique, and mitigation bypass.

A09:2021 – Security Logging and Monitoring Failures¶

As an alternative, you can choose to managed services and benefit from the cloud’s Serverless architecture of services like Auth0. Interested in reading more about SQL injection attacks and why it is a security risk? Make sure you track the use of open source libraries and maintain an inventory of versions, their licenses and vulnerabilities such as OWASP’s top 10 vulnerabilities using tools like OWASP’s Dependency Check or Snyk.

Sometimes developers unwittingly download parts that come built-in with known security issues. The OWASP Proactive Controls is one of the best-kept secrets of the OWASP universe. Everyone knows the OWASP Top Ten as the top application security risks, updated every few years. Proactive Controls is a catalog of available security controls that counter one or many of the top ten.

The Top 10 Proactive Controls

This concept is not only relevant for Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities and the different HTML contexts, it also applies to any context where data and control planes are mixed. First, security vulnerabilities continue to evolve and a top 10 list simply can’t offer a comprehensive understanding of all the problems that can affect your software. Entirely new vulnerability categories such as XS Leaks will probably never make it to these lists, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care about them. This list was originally created by the current project leads with contributions from several volunteers.