What is OWASP and OWASP Top 10?

OWASP, or the Open Web Application Security Project, was founded in 2001. It’s a global, non-profit community where security professionals share insights and develop resources that help secure software against vulnerabilities. Essentially, OWASP opens up valuable security knowledge that might otherwise remain trapped inside large corporations or pricey consulting firms.

OWASP has produced an ecosystem of security projects:

OWASP ZAP: A widely-used, free tool for finding security vulnerabilities in web applications.
Cheat Sheet Series: Quick-reference guides for implementing effective security practices.
WebGoat and Juice Shop: Intentionally vulnerable apps designed to help developers practice spotting and fixing security flaws.

But OWASP is most famous for the OWASP Top 10, a critical resource in web security.

The OWASP Top 10: The Web Application Security Risks

Originally started as a simple list, the OWASP Top 10 has grown into the definitive guide for web application security risks.

Based on real-world vulnerability data collected from thousands of applications.
Incorporates insights from industry experts about emerging threats.
Provides actionable solutions, not just descriptions of issues.

All of this makes it a remarkably effective resource that helps organizations focus security resources on the vulnerabilities that matter most.

OWASP Top 10 (2021 Edition)

A01: Broken Access Control

Found in 94% of applications tested, this category claimed the top position in 2021 (up from #5 in 2017) due to its high frequency.

Issue: Access control enforces that users can only perform actions within their permitted authority. When these mechanisms fail, attackers can act outside their intended permissions.

Impact: Unauthorized access to sensitive data, modification of other users' accounts, elevation of privileges, or complete system compromise.

Attack vectors:

Path traversal exploits
Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR)
JWT token manipulation
CORS misconfigurations

Prevention strategies:

Implement deny-by-default access controls
Centralize access control logic (via middleware or service layers)
Invalidate session tokens on logout or privilege change
Enforce ownership and object-level permissions in code
Log and monitor access control failures for incident response

A02: Cryptographic Failures

Issue: Failures in implementing proper encryption and data protection, leading to exposure of sensitive information.

Impact: Data breaches exposing personal information, credit card details, or credentials that can be used in further attacks.

Attack vectors:

Man-in-the-middle attacks on unencrypted data
Exploitation of weak encryption algorithms
Password storage using reversible encryption or weak hashing

Prevention strategies:

Classify data processed by your application
Apply encryption based on classification
Disable TLS versions below 1.2
Use modern algorithms (AES-256, SHA-256, etc.)
Implement proper key management
Store passwords with adaptive algorithms like Argon2

A03: Injection

Issue: Applications send untrusted data to interpreters without proper validation or escaping.

Impact: Data theft, deletion, or corruption; authentication bypass; and in some extreme cases, complete system takeover.

Prevention strategies:

Use parameterized queries for all database operations
Validate all inputs using positive validation (allowlist)
Implement context-aware output encoding
Use modern frameworks with built-in XSS protection
Consider Content Security Policy (CSP) headers

A04: Insecure Design

New in 2021: Added to highlight that security must be a design consideration, not just an implementation concern.

Issue: Architectural flaws that exist before a single line of code is written.

Real-world scenario: A banking application that allows unlimited password attempts without any rate limiting or lockout mechanism—even perfect implementation can't fix this design flaw.

Prevention strategies:

Establish secure development lifecycle requirements
Use threat modeling for critical authentication, access control, business logic
Integrate security language and controls into user stories
Implement security champions in development teams
Use "abuse case" testing scenarios alongside functional testing

After reading this far, if you think there are a lot of vulnerabilities to look out for, you are right. These are merely 10 of the most common vulnerabilities, but there could be many more in production.

In fact, Business Logic & Authentication Vulnerabilities are one of the most nuanced ones to capture.

ZeroPath is currently the only SAST tool that can detect Business logic flaws. If you are curious, check out how ZeroPath compares to Snyk, Semgrep, Bearer, and more.

A05: Security Misconfiguration

Issue: Improper implementation of security controls across the application stack, from servers to frameworks.

Impact: Exposed sensitive data, default accounts enabled, overly verbose error messages revealing internal structure.

Common examples:

Unnecessary features enabled (e.g., unused ports, services)
Default credentials unchanged
Error handling that reveals stack traces
Outdated software with known vulnerabilities
Misconfigured HTTP headers

Prevention strategies:

Implement automated scanning for misconfiguration
Use minimal platforms without unnecessary features
Automate hardening across all environments
Remove or disable unused features and frameworks
Implement security headers (HSTS, CSP, etc.)

A06: Vulnerable and Outdated Components

Issue: Using components with known vulnerabilities or components that are no longer maintained.

Impact: The Log4Shell vulnerability CVE-2021-44228 demonstrated how a single vulnerability in a widely-used component could affect millions of systems globally.

Prevention strategies:

Maintain an inventory of all components and dependencies
Only obtain components from official sources via secure links
Monitor vulnerability databases for issues in your components
Remove unused dependencies, features, and documentation
Establish a patch management process with clear SLAs

A07: Identification and Authentication Failures

Issue: Weaknesses in how applications verify user identity and maintain authentication state.

Specific vulnerabilities:

Credential stuffing vulnerabilities
Brute force susceptibility
Weak password storage
Missing or ineffective multi-factor authentication
Session fixation flaws

Prevention strategies:

Implement multi-factor authentication
Avoid default credentials, especially for admin users
Check passwords against known breached databases
Limit or delay failed login attempts
Use a server-side session manager that generates random IDs

A08: Software and Data Integrity Failures

New in 2021: Reflects growing concerns about supply chain attacks.

Issue: Code and infrastructure that don't verify the integrity of updates, critical data, or CI/CD pipelines.

Impact: The SolarWinds attack demonstrated how compromised software updates could lead to widespread breaches.

Prevention strategies:

Use digital signatures to verify software integrity
Verify libraries and dependencies come from trusted repositories
Implement review processes for code and configuration changes
Use immutable infrastructure for deployments
Ensure CI/CD pipelines include security controls

A09: Security Logging and Monitoring Failures

Issue: Insufficient logging of security events and inadequate monitoring of systems.

Impact: Breaches remain undetected for an average of 200+ days, giving attackers ample time to exfiltrate data or install backdoors.

Prevention strategies:

Ensure logs include context needed for suspicious activity identification
Encode logs correctly to prevent injection or attacks on log viewers
Implement centralized log management with correlation capabilities
Create and test incident response plans
Establish automated alerting systems for suspicious activities

A10: Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

New in 2021: Added based on industry survey data showing its growing importance.

Issue: The application fetches remote resources without validating user-supplied URLs.

Impact: The 2019 Capital One breach exploited SSRF to access AWS metadata services, compromising over 100 million customer records.

Prevention strategies:

Implement network-layer firewall rules
Force all requests through a centralized URL parser/validator
Require proper authentication for all services
Block access to internal networks (127.0.0.1, localhost, etc.)
Use URL allowlists rather than denylists where possible

OWASP Top 10 and Other Security Standards

The OWASP Top 10 holds a unique position in the security standards ecosystem. While frameworks like NIST and ISO provide comprehensive security guidance, the OWASP Top 10 offers specialized, actionable insights specifically for web application security.

The relationship is symbiotic rather than competitive:

NIST frameworks cover enterprise-wide security controls, with OWASP providing detailed guidance on application-specific implementations
CIS Controls establish broad security practices, with OWASP deepening the technical guidance for web applications
ISO 27001 creates management system requirements, with OWASP informing the technical controls

OWASP Top 10 2025

The OWASP Top 10 2025 will likely reflect the shifting security landscape. After multiple pentest reports and industry talks, we have a compiled a list of expected changes between OWASP 2021 and 2025.

Based on current trends, we can expect:

Greater emphasis on API security as applications increasingly rely on microservices
Expanded focus on cloud-native security risks and infrastructure-as-code vulnerabilities
Deeper integration with DevSecOps practices and tooling
Recognition of AI/ML-specific security concerns. OWASP has already released the OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Models, showing their commitment to addressing emerging technologies.

We also have a detailed guide on how to use LLMs securely for coding.

Conclusion

The OWASP Top 10 directs attention to the most critical vulnerabilities those that repeatedly lead to real-world compromises. In doing so, it transforms application security from an overwhelming challenge into a manageable set of priorities.

Although not perfect, its community-driven, practical approach ensures it stays relevant, helping security professionals manage evolving risks in application security.

There are various ways to avoid introducing these vulnerabilities into production, and Static Application Security Testing (SAST) is still the most reliable method. But "grep-for-SQL-injection" scanners tend to miss out on broken business logic, authorization edge cases, multi-step exploit chains, and more.

ZeroPath understands your codebase, builds a control and data-flow graph, and lets LLM agents reason over it. Here's a detailed breakdown of how ZeroPath works behind the scenes.

If you are looking for SAST tools, we also have a list of AI-powered SAST tools which we believe perform the best.