Web application security vulnerabilities are weaknesses in the system that lead to security risks such as hacker attacks or data leaks. According to Statista, over six million data records were exposed globally due to data breaches in the first quarter of 2023. The most exposed data records were found in the fourth quarter of 2020, with about 125 million data sets since the first quarter of 2020. That's why it's essential to regularly test an application's security and use web application vulnerability scanning tools to identify vulnerabilities before they become significant issues.
Common Types of Web Application Security Vulnerabilities
Organizations must safeguard against these common web application vulnerabilities to ensure data security and privacy.
SQL Injection
Structured Query Language (SQL) is extensively utilized in numerous applications to manage database connectivity. SQL vulnerabilities enable attackers to input malicious commands into databases to exfiltrate, change, or delete data. SQL injection attacks target servers that store sensitive data utilized by web applications or services. They become vulnerable when exposed to sensitive information like user credentials and personal data. Using inappropriate user inputs is the most frequent vulnerability that allows for SQL injection attacks.
Impact of SQL injection on applications:
- Attackers can get credentials via SQL injection and then impersonate users and use their authorization rights.
- Attackers can obtain access to sensitive data on servers and alter or add new data to the accessed database.
- Attackers can delete database records or drop entire tables.
- Attackers with operating system privileges can get access to database servers and utilize these privileges to gain access to other confidential systems.
Mitigate the SQL injection attacks by using:
- Parameterized statements or prepared statements to separate user input from SQL code.
- Sanitized user inputs that are safe for database use.
- Web application vulnerability scanning tools to identify potential SQL injection vulnerabilities.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
- Stored XSS: Attackers inject malicious scripts permanently stored on a target server. When other users access the compromised page, the script executes, affecting all subsequent visitors.
- Reflected XSS: Malicious scripts are embedded in URLs or input fields, and the server reflects them in the page's response. The script executes when the user interacts with the manipulated URL or input.
- DOM-based XSS: The attack modifies the DOM (domain object model) on the client side (the browser). In this case, the HTTP response on the server side is unchanged; instead, the client code executes unexpectedly due to a malicious change to the DOM environment.
- Validate and sanitize user inputs to prevent the injection of malicious code.
- Encode user-generated content before displaying it to prevent the execution of injected scripts.
- Implement a Content Security Policy (CSP) to specify which content sources are considered legitimate, preventing the execution of scripts from untrusted sources.
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- The attacker crafts a malicious request and convinces the user to interact with it, often through a manipulated link or image.
- The user's browser sends the request, including their session cookies, to the target application.
- The application receives the request and acts on the user's behalf without verifying the source's legitimacy.
- Anti-CSRF Tokens: Generate and validate unique tokens for each user session to ensure requests originate from the legitimate user.
- SameSite Cookie Attribute: Set the SameSite attribute on cookies to restrict usage to the same origin, mitigating CSRF attacks.
- Referer Header Validation: Check the Referer header to verify the source of incoming requests.
Insecure Deserialization
- Remote Code Execution: By manipulating serialized objects, attackers can execute any code on the server.
- Data Exposure: Insecure deserialization can expose sensitive data saved in serialized objects.
- Denial of Service: Attackers can create malicious serialized data that cause resource exhaustion or system crashes.
- Validate and sanitize serialized data to adhere to expected formats and structures.
- Use trusted and secure serialization libraries that enforce strict deserialization rules.
- Implement a digital signature to verify data integrity; however, this only works if tests are performed before the deserialization process begins.
Broken Authentication and Session Management
- Weak passwords and usernames.
- Fixation attacks throughout sessions.
- Customer identity information is not secured when stored.
- Consumer identification data is sent through links that are not encrypted.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Integrate MFA to increase security, requiring users to provide multiple verification forms.
- Session Handling: Use secure session management techniques, including regular session timeouts and secure session ID generation.
- Password Policies: Enforce strong password policies, such as complexity requirements and regular password changes.