OWASP released a draft for 2021, the all-new OWASP Top 10 2021 comes with three new categories and position changes.
The OWASP Top 10 is a minimal or a basic security testing requirement for every web application.
The OWASP Top 10 was first introduced in 2003, and for there it took many revisions, now the draft report for 2021 is available now.
OWASP said that “the OWASP Top 10 2021 is a good start as a baseline for checklists and so on, but it’s not in itself sufficient”.
Moves to the top from the fifth position in 2017, it is also called an authorization that defines how a web application grants access to content and functions to some users and not others.
Shifted from third to the second position, previously it was called as Sensitive Data Exposure. The lack of encryption often leads to sensitive data exposure or system compromise.
Moves down to the third position from No.1, it is a technique in which the attacker takes non-validated input vulnerabilities and injects SQL commands through a web application that are executed in the backend database.
This is a new category with the OWASP Top 2021, it focuses on the risks related to design and architectural flaws.
“Insecure design is a broad category representing many different weaknesses, expressed as missing or ineffective control design”.
Moved from 6th to fifth position, it focuses on the security hardening across the application stack or improperly configured permissions on cloud services.
It was moved from the second position to six, as not enough attack data is available, this category focuses on the vulnerable versions of all components used on both client-side and server-side.
Previously it was known as Broken Authentication, this category focuses on authentication failures.
It leads to automated attacks such as credential stuffing in which attackers use a list of usernames and passwords.
This is a new category introduced on OWASP Top 10 2021, it focuses on software and data integrity failures relate to code and infrastructure that do not protect against integrity violations.
Moves one step from the tenth position, this category helps to detect, escalate, and respond to active breaches.
This category focuses on securing a connection that a web application is fetching a remote resource without validating the user-supplied URL.
Please follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook for daily Cybersecurity and hacking news updates.
Cisco Systems has disclosed a high-severity vulnerability (CVE-2025-20111) in its Nexus 3000 and 9000 Series…
A sophisticated cyber campaign orchestrated by the Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group, Silver Fox,…
A new wave of cyberattacks attributed to the Ghostwriter Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group has…
The LCRYX ransomware, a malicious VBScript-based threat, has re-emerged in February 2025 after its initial…
Recent cybersecurity investigations have uncovered a sophisticated technique employed by threat actors to evade detection…
A financial management app named Finance Simplified has been revealed as a malicious tool for…