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

A01:2025 – Broken Access Control

Access control ensures that users cannot perform actions beyond their authorized permissions. Failures in this area often result in the unauthorized disclosure, modification, or destruction of data, or the execution of business functions outside of defined user limits.

Practical Aspects

• Real-world examples of broken access controls

• Implementing secure access controls and adhering to best practices

A02:2025 – Security Misconfiguration

Security misconfiguration occurs when a system, application, or cloud service is improperly set up from a security standpoint, thereby introducing vulnerabilities.

Practical Aspects

• Real-world examples of common misconfigurations

• Strategies to prevent misconfigurations, including the use of configuration management and automation tools

A03:2025 – Software Supply Chain Failures

Software supply chain failures involve breakdowns or compromises in the process of building, distributing, or updating software. These are frequently caused by vulnerabilities or malicious alterations in third-party code, tools, or other dependencies that the system relies upon.

A04:2025 – Cryptographic Failures

In general, all data in transit should be encrypted at the transport layer (OSI layer 4). Previous challenges, such as CPU performance limitations and private key/certificate management, have been largely addressed by modern CPUs featuring instructions that accelerate encryption (e.g., AES support) and by simplified key management services like LetsEncrypt.org. Additionally, major cloud providers now offer tightly integrated certificate management services tailored to their platforms.

Beyond securing the transport layer, it is crucial to identify which data requires encryption at rest and which data needs additional encryption in transit (at the application layer, OSI layer 7).

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

Practical Aspects

• In-depth analysis of cryptographic failures, such as the use of weak encryption algorithms or improper key management

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

A05:2025 – Injection

An injection vulnerability is a flaw that allows an attacker to insert malicious code or commands (such as SQL or shell code) into input fields, tricking the system into executing them as if they were legitimate parts of the system. This can lead to severe consequences.

Practical Aspects

• Detailed examination of SQL, NoSQL, OS, and LDAP injection

• Mitigation techniques utilizing prepared statements, parameterized queries, and input escaping

A06:2025 – Insecure Design

Insecure design is a broad category encompassing various weaknesses, often described as "missing or ineffective control design."

Insecure design is not the root cause of all other Top Ten risk categories. It is important to distinguish between insecure design and insecure implementation, as they have different root causes, occur at different stages of the development process, and require different remediation approaches.

A secure design may still suffer from implementation defects that lead to exploitable vulnerabilities. Conversely, an insecure design cannot be resolved by a perfect implementation because the necessary security controls were never established to defend against specific attacks.

A key factor contributing to insecure design is the lack of business risk profiling for the software or system being developed, which leads to an inability to determine the appropriate level of security design required.

Practical Aspects

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

• Studying strategies for secure architecture and secure design principles

A07:2025 – Authentication Failures

This vulnerability exists when an attacker can deceive a system into recognizing an invalid or incorrect user as legitimate.

Practical Aspects

• Common authentication issues

• Secure authentication strategies, including multi-factor authentication and proper session handling

A08:2025 – Software or Data Integrity Failures

Software and data integrity failures occur when code or infrastructure fails to protect against invalid or untrusted code or data being treated as trusted and valid.

An example of this is an application relying on plugins, libraries, or modules from untrusted sources, repositories, or content delivery networks (CDNs).

An insecure CI/CD pipeline that lacks software integrity checks for both incoming and outgoing components can introduce risks of unauthorized access, insecure or malicious code, or system compromise.

Another example is a CI/CD pipeline that pulls code or artifacts from untrusted locations and/or fails to verify them before use (e.g., by checking 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

Without logging and monitoring, attacks and breaches cannot be detected. Without alerting, it becomes very difficult to respond quickly and effectively during a security incident.

Insufficient logging, continuous monitoring, detection, and alerting to trigger active responses is a common occurrence.

Practical Aspects

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

• 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, and respond to unusual and unpredictable situations, leading to crashes, unexpected behavior, and potential vulnerabilities.

This can involve one or more of the following failures:

• The application fails to prevent an unusual situation from occurring

• It fails to identify the situation as it happens

• It responds poorly or not at all to the situation afterwards

SAST – Static Application Security Testing

1. Understanding static analysis and when to run it in the SDLC (shift left)

2. Types of vulnerabilities detectable through SAST, comparing vulnerable code vs. secure code

3. Overview of SAST tools (e.g., Semgrep, SonarQube, Checkmarx, depending on client stack)

4. Practical exercise: running a SAST scan on a repository with deliberately introduced vulnerabilities, interpreting results, and triaging false positives vs. real vulnerabilities

DAST – Dynamic Application Security Testing

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

2. The DAST scan flow, including crawling, fuzzing, and response analysis

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

4. Practical exercise: running a DAST scan on a vulnerable test application (e.g., OWASP Juice Shop), identifying and validating the findings

SCA – Software Composition Analysis

1. Assessing the risk of third-party dependencies and libraries, including inherited vulnerabilities

2. Understanding SBOM, Software Bill of Materials: what it is and why it matters

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

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