The OWASP Top 10 continues to be the industry standard for understanding the most critical security risks to web applications. In 2024, while some familiar threats remain, we've seen evolution in attack vectors and exploitation techniques.

Understanding Broken Access Control

Broken Access Control remains at the top of the list. This vulnerability occurs when users can act outside their intended permissions. We've observed attackers exploiting these flaws to access unauthorized functionality and data.

• Bypassing access control checks by modifying the URL
• Allowing the primary key to be changed to another user's record
• Elevation of privilege without authentication
• Metadata manipulation such as replaying or tampering with JWT tokens

Cryptographic Failures

Cryptographic failures have also risen in prominence. With the increasing regulatory focus on data protection (GDPR, CCPA), ensuring proper encryption of sensitive data both in transit and at rest has never been more critical.

Common issues include using weak cryptographic algorithms, improper key management, and failure to encrypt sensitive data. Organizations must implement strong encryption standards and regularly audit their cryptographic implementations.

Injection Attacks

SQL, NoSQL, OS command, and LDAP injection remain prevalent. These vulnerabilities occur when untrusted data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query.

Prevention requires using parameterized queries, ORM frameworks, and input validation. Never trust user input and always sanitize data before processing.