Web Application Security Framework – 1

What is Web Application Security Framework?.

Web application security framework is a structured approach or set of guidelines, tools, and best practices designed to help developers and security professionals secure web applications against various cyber threats and vulnerabilities. These frameworks typically provide a systematic way to identify, assess, and mitigate security risks throughout the development lifecycle of web applications.

These frameworks may include:

• Security Standards and Guidelines: Frameworks often reference established security standards, such as OWASP Top 10, PCI DSS, or NIST guidelines, to provide a foundation for addressing common security issues.
• Secure Coding Practices: They offer guidance on writing secure code, including input validation, output encoding, authentication mechanisms, and access control.
• Security Testing and Assessment: Frameworks may include methodologies and tools for conducting security testing, such as vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and code review, to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities.
• Secure Deployment Practices: They provide recommendations for securely deploying and configuring web applications on servers, including server hardening, secure communication protocols, and proper access controls.
• Incident Response and Monitoring: Frameworks may include guidelines for incident response planning, monitoring, and logging to detect and respond to security incidents effectively.

Examples of web application security frameworks include OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS), OWASP Development Guide, Microsoft Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL), and SANS Software Security Institute’s Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF). These frameworks aim to assist organizations in building secure web applications by incorporating security considerations into every phase of the development process.

One widely used web application security framework is the OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) Top 10. The OWASP Top 10 is a regularly updated list of the most critical security risks to web applications. It provides guidance on identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating common vulnerabilities that attackers may exploit to compromise web applications.

The OWASP Top 10 covers a range of security issues, including injection flaws, broken authentication, sensitive data exposure, XML external entities (XXE), broken access control, security misconfigurations, cross-site scripting (XSS), insecure deserialization, using components with known vulnerabilities, and insufficient logging and monitoring.

By following the OWASP Top 10 recommendations, developers and security professionals can implement proactive measures to secure web applications and protect against common attack vectors. OWASP also provides additional resources, such as testing guides, cheat sheets, and educational materials, to help organizations improve their web application security posture.

OWASP Top 10 2017-2021

The OWASP Top 10 is a widely recognized list of the top 10 most critical web application security risks. The list is periodically updated to reflect emerging threats and vulnerabilities in web applications. Here’s a summary of the OWASP Top 10 from 2017 to 2021:

OWASP Top 10 2017:

Injection: Injection flaws, such as SQL, NoSQL, OS, and LDAP injection, occur when untrusted data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query, leading to unauthorized access or data loss.

Broken Authentication: Broken authentication vulnerabilities occur when authentication and session management mechanisms are improperly implemented, allowing attackers to compromise user credentials, session tokens, or keys.

Sensitive Data Exposure: Sensitive data exposure vulnerabilities involve the exposure of sensitive information, such as passwords, credit card numbers, or personal health information, due to inadequate protection or encryption.

XML External Entities (XXE): XXE vulnerabilities occur when an XML parser processes untrusted XML input containing external entity references, leading to information disclosure, server-side request forgery (SSRF), or denial of service (DoS) attacks.

Broken Access Control: Broken access control vulnerabilities occur when restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are not properly enforced, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive functionality or data.

Security Misconfiguration: Security misconfiguration vulnerabilities arise from insecure default configurations, incomplete or ad-hoc configurations, open cloud storage, misconfigured HTTP headers, and verbose error messages, leading to unauthorized access or data leakage.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): XSS vulnerabilities occur when untrusted data is included in a web page without proper validation or escaping, allowing attackers to execute malicious scripts in the context of a user’s browser.

Insecure Deserialization: Insecure deserialization vulnerabilities occur when untrusted data is deserialized by a program, leading to remote code execution, DoS attacks, or data tampering.

Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities: Using components with known vulnerabilities, such as libraries, frameworks, or software modules, exposes applications to security risks, as attackers can exploit known vulnerabilities to compromise systems.

Insufficient Logging & Monitoring: Insufficient logging and monitoring make it difficult to detect and respond to security incidents, allowing attackers to maintain persistence, steal sensitive data, or cause other damage without detection.

OWASP Top 10 2021 Risk Priority (Changes from 2017 version):

Injection: Remained a top risk.

Broken Authentication: Remained a top risk.

Sensitive Data Exposure: Remained a top risk.

XML External Entities (XXE): Moved down in priority.

Broken Access Control: Remained a top risk.

Security Misconfiguration: Remained a top risk.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): Remained a top risk.

Insecure Deserialization: Moved down in priority.

Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities: Expanded to include all components, not just libraries and frameworks.

Insufficient Logging & Monitoring: Remained a top risk.

The OWASP Top 10 provides valuable guidance for developers, security professionals, and organizations to prioritize their efforts and mitigate the most critical web application security risks. It’s important to regularly review and update security practices to address evolving threats and vulnerabilities.