In the broad landscape of internet technology, a comprehensive understanding of cybersecurity is quickly becoming a vital skill. Central to mastering this realm is an in-depth knowledge of the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) and its widely referenced list, the OWASP Top 10. The ‘OWASP Top 10 explained’ focuses on the most critical vulnerabilities, providing a checklist for web application security and personal online safety.

Introduction to OWASP

Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is an international non-profit organization, offering a valuable platform for the cybersecurity community. Their main purpose is to enhance the security of web applications by developing and providing free to use tools, methodologies, and standards. An important tool is the OWASP Top 10 list, a key resource for organizations seeking to understand and mitigate potential threats to their online assets.

Overview of OWASP Top 10

The OWASP Top 10 outlines the most common and dangerous vulnerabilities, grounded on real-world data from various security organizations. This guide explains each and provides tips on prevention and mitigation.

A1:2017 - Injection

Injection flaws, such as SQL, OS, and LDAP injection, are vulnerabilities that occur when untrusted data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query. Examples are uncontrolled variables, poorly formatted commands and responses. To mitigate this, use positive or "whitelist" server-side input validation, and escape special characters using specific API or libraries.

A2:2017 - Broken Authentication

Application functions related to authentication and session management are often implemented incorrectly, allowing attackers to compromise passwords, keys, session tokens, or exploit other implementation flaws to assume other users' identities. To prevent this, implement multi-factor authentication and don't deploy with default credentials.

A3:2017 - Sensitive Data Exposure

Many web applications and APIs do not securely protect sensitive data, such as financial, healthcare, and PII. Attackers may steal or modify weakly protected data. To prevent this, classify data processed, stored or transmitted by an application and apply controls as per the classification.

A4:2017 - XML External Entity (XXE)

Many older or poorly configured XML processors evaluate external entity references within XML documents. External entities can be used to disclose internal files, internal file shares, internal port scanning, and remote code execution. To prevent this, use less complex data formats or upgrade all XML processors and libraries in use by the application or on the underlying operating system

A5:2017 - Broken Access Control

Restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are often not properly enforced. Attackers can exploit these flaws to access unauthorized functionality and/or data. Limitations can be circumvented by modifying the URL, internal application state, or HTML page. To prevent this, deny by default, implement record ownership, and validate access rights before making each function accessible.

A6:2017 - Security Misconfiguration

Security misconfiguration is the most commonly seen issue and is often the result of insecure default configurations, incomplete or ad hoc configurations, open cloud storage, misconfigured HTTP headers, and verbose error messages containing sensitive information. To prevent security misconfiguration, use automatic configuration, maintain separate environments, and implement a strong application architecture.

A7:2017 - Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

XSS flaws occur whenever an application includes untrusted data in a new web page without adequate validation or escaping, allowing an attacker to execute scripts in the victim's browser. To prevent this, apply context-sensitive encoding when modifying the browser document on the client-side.

A8:2017 - Insecure Deserialization

Insecure deserialization often leads to remote code execution, which can be used to perform attacks, including replay attacks, injection attacks, and privilege escalation attacks. The solution is to not accept serialized objects from untrusted sources or use serialization mediums that only permit primitive data types.

A9:2017 - Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities

Components such as libraries and frameworks run with the same privileges as the application. If a vulnerable component is exploited, it can lead to serious data loss or server takeover. Proactive updating and use of virtual patching can be a solution.

A10:2017 - Insufficient Logging and Monitoring

Insufficient logging and monitoring, coupled with a lack of integration with Incident response, allows attackers to further attack systems, maintain persistence, advance attacks, extract, or modify data. To prevent this, ensure all login, access control failures, server-side input validation failures are logged with enough user context to identify suspicious or malicious accounts.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, the cybersecurity world is a field characterized by rapid and constant change. Understanding and keeping up with its many aspects is a fundamental task for anyone involved with the internet and web application technology. An invaluable resource in achieving this is the OWASP Top 10 list, explained in this guide. It provides an excellent point of reference in identifying and addressing the vulnerabilities which, if left unchecked, may lead to a serious breach in data and security.