6 main application vulnerabilities and how to prevent them

If you have a business that develops or uses multiple applications, it is important know the main vulnerabilities in applications and how to prevent them. To prevent these vulnerabilities, it is important to have a specialized cybersecurity team that can identify and remedy any weaknesses in your application code. In addition, it is necessary to stay up-to-date on the latest security trends and follow good secure development practices. 

At Codster, we can help you protect your application against these vulnerabilities through application security testing and security audits. You can be sure that your application will be protected against the main application vulnerabilities with our support and advice.

If you are interested in learning more about it and protecting your main customers and suppliers, or if you need to know more about these potential problems, you can request a consultancy with Codster to solve your doubts about it.

Knowing the main vulnerabilities in applications will allow you to improve your security and that of your clients.

6 vulnerabilities Web or Mobile Applications:

The top six application vulnerabilities are: code injection, incorrect authentication and authorization, sensitive data exposure, buffer overflow, configuration security vulnerabilities, and cryptography issues. Below, we explain in more detail what implications they have for your company's applications.

  • Code injection: This vulnerability allows an attacker to inject malicious code into an application, giving them control over the application. This hacking can be done, both physically by a person and remotely, if access is achieved in a pernicious way.
  • Authentication and session management: An attacker can exploit weaknesses in the authentication and session management system to gain access to user accounts or steal confidential information. For example, if a third-party application is used to protect the access information of your clients and collaborators or if their accounts are hacked.
  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): This vulnerability allows an attacker to inject malicious code into a web page, which can compromise the security of users who visit that page. This potential attack is quite worrisome for web applications that require a constant Internet connection to function.
  • Unsafe references: If a programmer does not properly handle object references, it can lead to object access vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is necessary to perform an analysis on the source code to prevent the exploitation of this vulnerability.
  • Bad coding practices: The use of bad coding practices is one of the main vulnerabilities in applications, as the lack of input validation can allow an attacker to exploit vulnerabilities in the code. In the next section we will see how you can defend against this, one of the main application vulnerabilities, with analysis tools such as SAST, DAST and SCA from veracode.
  • Access control problems: If access control to certain resources or functions is implemented incorrectly, an attacker can access them without authorization.

Ways to prevent the main vulnerabilities in applications

As we have seen, the main vulnerabilities in applications can compromise the security of your clients, as well as impede the growth of your company due to the lack of the local and international regulatory legal framework. Here are some tools and ways you can prevent attacks from cyber attackers:

  • SQL injection: One of the main ways to prevent SQL injection is to use prepared query parameters and user input validation to ensure that no malicious commands can be fed into the query. This prevention tool is useful and necessary for proper development.
  • XSS attacks: To prevent XSS attacks, it is important to ensure that character encoding is used in user input and to avoid using JavaScript evaluation functions in your application. This way of prevention may not be applicable to all application developments.
  • CSRF attacks: To prevent CSRF attacks, it is necessary to implement CSRF tokens and always validate the tokens when processing requests.

main vulnerabilities in applications
Some of the major application vulnerabilities can only be identified through source code analysis.

Now, we will know three tools available through partners of veracode. They directly analyze the code of your application to detect some of the main vulnerabilities in applications within its code so that you can act in time:

  • Static Source Code Analysis (SAST): The Veracode SAST tool is a powerful solution that focuses on the thorough analysis of an application's source code to detect vulnerabilities and security weaknesses that could be exploited by cybercriminals. This tool uses advanced software analysis techniques to identify and remedy issues such as configuration vulnerabilities, design weaknesses, and coding issues, ensuring greater security in application development.

  • Dynamic Application Analysis (DAST): Veracode DAST is a vulnerability scanning tool that focuses on evaluating the application in real time to identify any possible vulnerabilities or weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers. It uses advanced techniques to simulate possible attacks against the application, allowing the client to obtain detailed information on the identified vulnerabilities and weaknesses. With this clear and precise vision of the security of his application, the customer can take effective measures to remedy any problems found and improve the overall security of his system.

  • Software Composition Analysis (SCA): An essential tool for Veracode vulnerability analysis is the one focused on analyzing third-party libraries and dependencies used in the application. With it, possible vulnerabilities and known security weaknesses are detected. Furthermore, this tool uses an up-to-date database of known vulnerabilities to identify any possible risks and provides detailed information on the vulnerabilities found, including effective solutions. In this way, the client can protect himself from external threats that may compromise the security of his application.

Some of the main vulnerabilities in applications can be prevented with the support of Veracode, its analysis includes static analysis of source code, dynamic application analysis, software composition analysis, mobile software analysis, integration and automation tools, and reports and control panels, you can request a consultancy with Codster to solve your doubts about it.

Eri Gutierrez

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