In collaboration between the SANS Institute, MITRE and an industry panel of more than 30 leading cyber security organizations, including Symantec and Microsoft, a list has been released featuring the top 25 most significant programming errors that can lead to serious software vulnerabilities.
This list can be used as a tool to educate programmers on the “all-too-common” mistakes that take place in the software industry. The Top 25 errors are classified below into three high-level categories:
Insecure Interaction Between Components
These weaknesses are related to insecure ways in which data is sent and received
between separate components, modules, programs, processes, threads, or systems.
> Improper Input Validation
> Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output
> Failure to Preserve SQL Query Structure (aka 'SQL Injection')
> Failure to Preserve Web Page Structure (aka 'Cross-site Scripting')
> Failure to Preserve OS Command Structure (aka 'OS Command Injection')
> Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information
> Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
> Race Condition
> Error Message Information Leak
Risky Resource Management
The weaknesses in this category are related to ways in which software does not properly manage the creation, usage, transfer, or destruction of important system resources.
> Failure to Constrain Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
> External Control of Critical State Data
> External Control of File Name or Path
> Untrusted Search Path
> Failure to Control Generation of Code (aka 'Code Injection')
> Download of Code Without Integrity Check
> Improper Resource Shutdown or Release
> Improper Initialization
> Incorrect Calculation
Porous Defenses
The weaknesses in this category are related to defensive techniques that are often
misused, abused, or just plain ignored.
> Improper Access Control (Authorization)
> Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm
> Hard-Coded Password
> Insecure Permission Assignment for Critical Resource
> Use of Insufficiently Random Values
> Execution with Unnecessary Privileges
> Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security
Click here to read more about the 2009 CWE/SANS Top 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors.
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