Application Security Testing: OWASP Top 10, SAST, DAST and SCA Training Course

A01:2025 – Broken Access Control

Effective access control enforces policies ensuring users operate only within their authorized permissions. Failures in this area often result in unauthorized disclosure, alteration, or destruction of data, as well as the execution of business functions beyond a user's intended scope.

Practical Aspects

• Case studies illustrating broken access controls

• Implementing secure access controls and adhering to best practices

A02:2025 – Security Misconfiguration

Security misconfiguration occurs when systems, applications, or cloud services are incorrectly set up, creating exploitable security vulnerabilities.

Practical Aspects

• Analysis of real-world misconfiguration incidents

• Strategies to prevent misconfigurations, utilizing configuration management and automation tools

A03:2025 – Software Supply Chain Failures

These failures refer to compromises or breakdowns in the software building, distribution, or update processes. They typically stem from vulnerabilities or malicious alterations in third-party code, tools, or other dependencies essential to the system.

A04:2025 – Cryptographic Failures

In general, all data in transit should be encrypted at the transport layer (OSI layer 4). Historical barriers such as CPU performance and complex private key/certificate management have been mitigated by modern CPUs supporting hardware-accelerated encryption (e.g., AES) and simplified key management via services like LetsEncrypt.org, alongside integrated certificate management offered by major cloud providers.

Beyond transport-layer security, it is crucial to determine which data requires encryption at rest and which needs additional encryption during transit at the application layer (OSI layer 7).

For instance, sensitive data such as passwords, credit card numbers, health records, personal information, and business secrets demand enhanced protection, particularly when subject to privacy regulations like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

Practical Aspects

• In-depth examination of cryptographic weaknesses, including weak algorithms and improper key management

• The significance of robust cryptographic mechanisms, secure protocols (SSL/TLS), and modern cryptographic applications in web security

A05:2025 – Injection

Injection vulnerabilities are system flaws that permit attackers to inject malicious code or commands (such as SQL or shell code) into input fields. This tricks the system into executing the attacker's code as if it were legitimate, often leading to severe consequences.

Practical Aspects

• Comprehensive breakdown of SQL, NoSQL, OS, and LDAP injection techniques

• Mitigation strategies involving prepared statements, parameterized queries, and input escaping

A06:2025 – Insecure Design

Insecure design is a broad category encompassing various weaknesses, characterized by missing or ineffective control design.

It is important to note that insecure design is distinct from insecure implementation. This differentiation exists because they originate from different root causes, occur at different stages of the development process, and require different remediation approaches.

Even a secure design can suffer from implementation defects that create exploitable vulnerabilities. Conversely, an insecure design cannot be resolved through perfect implementation, as the necessary security controls were never established to defend against specific threats.

A significant contributor to insecure design is the absence of business risk profiling during the development of the software or system, leading to an inability to determine the required level of security design.

Practical Aspects

• Exploring design flaws, such as improper input validation, that can lead to vulnerabilities

• Studying strategies for secure architecture and adhering to secure design principles

A07:2025 – Authentication Failures

This vulnerability is present when an attacker successfully deceives a system into accepting an invalid or incorrect user as legitimate.

Practical Aspects

• Identifying common authentication issues

• Implementing secure authentication strategies, including multi-factor authentication and robust session handling

A08:2025 – Software or Data Integrity Failures

These failures involve code and infrastructure that fails to protect against invalid or untrusted code or data being treated as trusted and valid.

An example includes applications relying on plugins, libraries, or modules from untrusted sources, repositories, or content delivery networks (CDNs).

An insecure CI/CD pipeline lacking software integrity checks can introduce risks of unauthorized access, the introduction of insecure or malicious code, or overall system compromise.

Another example is a CI/CD process that retrieves code or artifacts from untrusted locations and/or fails to verify them before use, for instance by not checking digital signatures or similar mechanisms.

Practical Aspects

• Focusing on issues such as untrusted software updates and data tampering

• Implementing safe update mechanisms and data integrity checks

A09:2025 – Security Logging and Alerting Failures

In the absence of logging and monitoring, attacks and breaches go undetected. Without proper alerting, responding quickly and effectively to security incidents becomes extremely difficult.

Failures in logging, continuous monitoring, detection, and alerting prevent the initiation of active response measures.

Practical Aspects

• The importance of logging security-relevant information and monitoring for suspicious activities

• Utilizing tools and practices for proper logging and real-time monitoring to detect breaches early

A10:2025 – Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions

Mishandling exceptional conditions occurs when software fails to prevent, detect, or respond to unusual and unpredictable situations. This can result in crashes, unexpected behavior, and potential vulnerabilities.

This typically involves one or more of the following deficiencies:

• The application fails to prevent the unusual situation from occurring

• The system fails to identify the situation as it is happening

• The response to the situation is inadequate or absent

SAST – Static Application Security Testing

1. Definition of static analysis and its optimal placement in the SDLC (shift left approach)

2. Types of vulnerabilities detectable via SAST, comparing vulnerable code with secure code

3. Overview of SAST tools (e.g., Semgrep, SonarQube, Checkmarx, tailored to the client stack)

4. Hands-on exercise: executing a SAST scan on a repository with intentionally introduced vulnerabilities, interpreting results, and triaging false positives against real vulnerabilities

DAST – Dynamic Application Security Testing

1. Distinguishing between SAST and DAST, focusing on black box testing of the running application

2. The DAST scanning process, including crawling, fuzzing, and response analysis

3. Overview of DAST tools (e.g., OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite)

4. Hands-on exercise: performing a DAST scan on a vulnerable test application (e.g., OWASP Juice Shop) and validating the findings

SCA – Software Composition Analysis

1. Risks associated with third-party dependencies and libraries, including inherited vulnerabilities

2. Understanding SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) and its significance

3. Overview of SCA tools (e.g., Dependency Check, Snyk, GitHub Dependabot)

4. Hands-on exercise: running an SCA scan on a real project, identifying vulnerable dependencies, and formulating a remediation plan (update, patch, or mitigate)