OWASP Top 10 Summary

The OWASP Top 10 represents the most critical security risks to web applications.

A01: Broken Access Control

Risk: Users can act outside their intended permissions.

Examples:

• Direct object references
• Missing function-level access control
• Elevation of privilege

A02: Cryptographic Failures

Risk: Sensitive data exposed due to weak or missing encryption.

Prevention:

• Use strong algorithms (AES-256)
• Properly manage encryption keys
• Use HTTPS everywhere

A03: Injection

Risk: Untrusted data sent to interpreters as part of commands.

Types:

• SQL Injection
• Command Injection
• LDAP Injection

A04: Insecure Design

Risk: Missing or ineffective security controls in design phase.

A05: Security Misconfiguration

Risk: Insecure default configurations, incomplete setup.

A06: Vulnerable Components

Risk: Using libraries with known vulnerabilities.

A07: Identification and Authentication Failures

Risk: Weak authentication mechanisms.

A08: Software and Data Integrity Failures

Risk: Code and infrastructure vulnerable to integrity violations.

A09: Security Logging and Monitoring Failures

Risk: Insufficient logging enables attackers to persist undetected.

A10: Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

Risk: Application fetches remote resources without validating user-supplied URL.