What Is the OWASP Top 10?

The OWASP Top 10 is a report that is released every four years by a non-profit organization Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). This list contains the most common and critical web application security risks, considering the data gathered from an industry-wide survey.

The value of the OWASP Top Ten is difficult to overestimate, since it serves as an extremely useful guide for developers, organizations, and security professionals. The report is not ranked by priority but provides an expanded view of common application vulnerabilities. Thus, the OWASP list is of interest to software development companies and organizations using web applications, since software security is a vital aspect in this case.

Why the OWASP Top 10 Matters

The OWASP Top 10 is an essential factor when it comes to risk management strategies. The reason is that this report highlights common attacks and vulnerabilities, helping companies mitigate security risks. This allows avoiding sensitive data exposure and developing secure code, thereby improving overall application security.

In addition, using the OWASP report when planning software security efforts, organizations can better handle compliance with regulatory standards and increase trust among clients through implementing best practices for data protection.

Since new threats and vulnerabilities regularly appear, it's worth being aware of current dangers in advance to know where to start and what critical risks need attention.

Let's examine this list in more detail in our guide to the OWASP Top 10:

OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities

Broken Access Control

The first vulnerability in the 2025 OWASP is broken access control. Since applications require access controls, users can gain access to resources and perform actions only if they are allowed to. 

In cases where there's a vulnerability in the app, hackers can use it to bypass these restrictions. Often the cause of the problem is the absence of multi-factor authentication, inadequate authorization checks, or broken authentication process. For example, user privileges should be clearly regulated and restricted to avoid opportunities to view restricted files, access other users' accounts, perform administrative actions, etc.

An effective solution in application security is using RBAC or Role-Based Access Controls. This principle allows for clearly defining roles and positions. Additionally, useful is the Principle of Least Privilege when a user has minimum access privileges to perform only those actions they need.

The difference between Role-Based Access Controls and the Principle of Least Privilege lies in the fact that RBAC can limit certain functions to the manager's role, since not all managers can have the same permissions.

A common variant of broken access control is IDOR or Insecure Direct Object References, when an application asks for user input to access objects like database records or files. If there's no mandatory validation of such requests, hackers can use this to gain unauthorized access. Such a common vulnerability can be resolved through Indirect Object References such as mappings or tokens, since they are difficult to guess or manipulate.

Cryptographic Failures

Cryptography is used to ensure information security and protect sensitive files. At the same time, cryptographic failures may happen for a number of reasons, for example when an app transmits data over an encrypted network HTTP instead of HTTPS or sensitive information (passwords, card numbers, etc.) is stored as plain text. Vulnerable and outdated components and insecure hashing algorithms such as MD5 or SHA-1 also play a significant role.

Organizations need to use cryptographic keys that are properly generated, stored, rotated, and disposed of. Such keys should not be embedded directly in the source code, and SSL/TLS certificates should be promptly validated. This helps avoid man-in-the-middle attacks and protect safe data transmission over networks.

Effective encryption algorithms in web security include AES-256, which provides data protection both at rest and in transit, as well as bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2 which are robust hashing algorithms to secure passwords.

Injection Attacks

Injection attacks are a common threat when unauthorized user input is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query, thus hackers can use malicious commands and gain access to data.

This type of vulnerability often occurs in SQL queries, XML parsers, LDAP statements, and operating system commands. It works as follows: if user input is improperly included in an SQL query and there is no proper sanitization, it can result in SQL injection attacks, when hackers can bypass authentication, modify or delete data, change their privileges, etc.

The best solution for protection against injection attacks is sanitizing user input to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, as well as using prepared statements, parameterized queries, and input validation.

Insecure Design

This category of vulnerabilities mostly includes problems that can appear at the design stage, rather than the implementation stage. These can be the already mentioned authentication, authorization, user input issues, as well as other aspects. For example, a frequent vulnerability can be poor session management which makes session hijacking possible. Also, poor error handling and logging is among common problems, when malicious actors gain understanding of how you build security and consequently how to bypass it. 

Insufficient data protection and adding unnecessarily or non-essential features in core functionality is also among the risks, since it expands the possible attack surface. The best solutions to avoid insecure design are robust threat modeling and security testing during the development lifecycle.

Security Misconfiguration

Another common type of vulnerability is security misconfigurations. This happens when security settings are poorly defined and implemented, which can cause problems during an application stack (web server, application server, database, frameworks, etc.).

For example, insecure default configurations (default passwords, usernames) or incomplete configurations (security controls are not well implemented) make the system vulnerable, allowing hackers to use these vulnerabilities to gain access to information.

Also, if systems don't receive regular updates and security patches, and directory listing is allowed, all this carries high risks that directory structure and files can be exposed.

The best solution would be to regularly apply security patches, not use default credentials, and also install only the minimum number of features required to reduce the attack surface. It's also useful to implement configuration management tools, conduct frequent audits, and apply the Principle of Least Privilege.

Vulnerable and Outdated Components

Since a fairly high percentage of web applications rely on dependencies like frameworks, plugins, libraries, etc., the task of maintaining security for each of these can become a difficult challenge. Outdated components that are no longer supported by the developer/service provider are easy targets for criminal actors. Therefore, organizations should at minimum use scanning programs to timely detect risks to sensitive data, and it's best to get rid of outdated libraries and frameworks. The same applies to unpatched plug-ins or extensions and other common components with known vulnerabilities.

Identification and Authentication Failures

The most common vulnerabilities in the identification and authentication failures category are poor gatekeeping, brute-force attacks, and credential stuffing.

Poor gatekeeping is about weak passwords (trivial ones like 12345, admin1, qaz1233456789 etc.). They are extremely easy and common, which is why attackers can quickly guess them to log into the system. Companies should implement complex password policies and frequent changes for users to avoid risks.

Brute-force attacks are when hackers use all possible combinations trying to guess a password. An effective solution is lockout mechanisms when after a specific number of failed login attempts the account gets blocked and the user is then required to perform additional actions or contact support to unlock their account.

Credential stuffing means that hackers use lists of stolen usernames and passwords, trying to log into different websites. This vulnerability is usually easily solved through multi-factor authentication, preventing unauthorized access even if the criminal actor has the right credentials to the account.

Software and Data Integrity Failures

Software and data integrity failures often result from improper validation, which makes applications/systems insufficiently protected from unauthorized changes. Among common causes of these vulnerabilities, one can note lack of code signing, insecure software updates, and unsanitized data inputs. Hackers can use these vulnerable spots to modify software or data.

Companies should implement strong validation checks for software updates and use code signing to reduce risks, as well as remember about regular audits and ensure data integrity monitoring.

Security Logging and Monitoring Failures

The security logging and monitoring failures (previously known as insufficient logging and monitoring) category is also common, and even more so than one would like.

So, security logging is essentially tracking events that occur on a computer or network. With their help, one can identify attacks, track user behavior, and monitor system activity. However, in case of poor protection, attackers can compromise it, which usually ends with severe consequences for a company. The key problem with log data integrity failures is that this leads to a situation where hackers get the opportunity to carry out their actions while remaining unnoticed by monitoring systems.

Among effective solutions to reduce these risks, one should note proper configuration of all logging and monitoring tools, as well as their regular testing. Besides this, concise logging and monitoring policies & procedures and employee training regarding the specifics of working with sensitive information are useful practices.

Server-Side Request Forgery

SSRF or Server-Side Request Forgery vulnerability allows hackers to make requests from the server to internal or external resources. The main reason why this happens is when a web application accepts a user-controlled input to then make requests without proper validation or restrictions.

Often SSRF vulnerabilities include improper input validation, unrestricted URL access, as well as access to protected internal services. Using such exploits, attackers can gain access to sensitive data, interact with internal systems, and affect the server environment.

Organizations can reduce risks through implementing strict input validation (when only permitted URLs are processed), as well as limiting the server's capabilities regarding internal systems.

How to Integrate OWASP Top 10

The OWASP Top 10 represents extremely valuable insight regarding common threats. This list is an excellent guide to solutions, providing information about major threats and ways to prevent them.

Ensuring web application security is a crucial aspect. In connection with this, partnership with a development company is a necessity to guarantee the security of applications, sensitive data, and internal systems. By collaborating with Jappware you can quickly implement custom solutions to minimize risks related to vulnerabilities, as well as receive security patches since new threats emerge all the time.

Our team can help you defend against the OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities with solutions for real-time threat detection and prioritized vulnerability management.

By integrating custom software into your systems you gain advantages from:

  • Runtime threat detection to identify unauthorized access, injection attempts, and misconfigurations

  • Access control and API protection to prevent privilege escalation and API misuse

  • Actionable insights and compliance reporting to implement security improvements

  • Secure input and output handling to block injection flaws, malicious code, as well as validate inputs and sanitize outputs

OWASP Top 10 Examples

Broken Access Control Example

An example of this vulnerability can be a situation when attackers can view transactions at /account/{id}, in other words by changing the link from /account/123 to /account/678, a view opens to another user's account without the need for authorization.

Cryptographic Failures Example

If your website stores passwords as plain text, then in case the database is breached, credentials become easily exposed. Also, using outdated algorithms (MD5, SHA-1) is extremely risky.

Injection Example

A login form executes the query:

SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = 'user' AND password = 'pass';

 

An attacker inputs:

username: ' OR 1=1 --

password: (empty)

 

The resulting query becomes:

SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '' OR 1=1 -- ' AND password = '';

Using this, hackers gain unauthorized access.

Insecure Design Example

This vulnerability allows access to other users' accounts when your website has unlimited password reset attempts, without requiring verification from the user. Thus, hackers have an unlimited number of attempts to guess the password.

Security Misconfiguration Example

A web server has directory listing enabled, thereby exposing sensitive files like /config or /backup.

Default admin credentials (e.g., admin:admin) remain unchanged.

Vulnerable and Outdated Components

Components are typically run with the same privileges as the application itself, so if any of the components are outdated, hackers can easily exploit the vulnerability. 

For example, CVE-2017-5638, a Struts 2 remote code execution vulnerability that enables the execution of arbitrary code on the server, has been blamed for significant breaches. 

Also, a vulnerability in Apache Struts (CVE-2017–5638) led to the Equifax data breach (2017).

Identification and Authentication Failures Example

If multi-factor authentication is absent, credential stuffing and brute force become much easier. An example of this common web application vulnerability is when the session ID is predictable, allowing hackers to hijack sessions.

Software and Data Integrity Failures Example

If you use HTTP instead of HTTPS to download updates, hackers can intercept and modify the update to include malware.

Security Logging and Monitoring Failures Example

This vulnerability occurs when security events such as alerts, login attempts, etc., are not monitored and logged, causing a data breach.

Server-Side Request Forgery Example

Internal admin data can be exposed if, for example, a file upload feature allows an URL input to fetch the file, so attackers can access the data via http://localhost/admin

Conclusion

New threats and hacking methods appear constantly, therefore data and system security issues are critical for businesses using web applications to provide services.

The OWASP Top 10 report serves as a kind of guide for companies, highlighting the most common threats, what they look like and how they can be mitigated. By considering the OWASP Top 10 and following the recommendations, organizations can significantly reduce the risks of cyber attacks, as well as guarantee protection of sensitive customer data, thereby increasing trust and avoiding fines and reputation loss.