name: owasp-top-10 description: | OWASP Top 10:2025 security vulnerabilities. Covers access control, injection, supply chain, cryptographic failures, and more. Use for security reviews.
USE WHEN: user mentions "OWASP 2025", "Top 10", "security review", "vulnerability assessment", asks about "broken access control", "injection", "supply chain", "cryptographic failures", "exception handling"
DO NOT USE FOR: general OWASP (2021) - use owasp instead, secrets - use secrets-management, dependencies - use supply-chain
allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob
OWASP Top 10:2025
When NOT to Use This Skill
- OWASP Top 10:2021 - Use
owaspskill for 2021 version - Detailed secrets management - Use
secrets-managementskill - Detailed supply chain security - Use
supply-chainskill for in-depth dependency management - License compliance - Use
license-complianceskill
Deep Knowledge: Use
mcp__documentation__fetch_docswith technology:owaspfor comprehensive documentation.
Quick Reference
| Rank | Category | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| A01 | Broken Access Control | Authorization checks, deny by default |
| A02 | Security Misconfiguration | Hardening, security headers, no defaults |
| A03 | Supply Chain Failures | Dependency audits, lockfiles, SBOMs |
| A04 | Cryptographic Failures | Strong algorithms, proper key management |
| A05 | Injection | Parameterized queries, input validation |
| A06 | Insecure Design | Threat modeling, secure patterns |
| A07 | Authentication Failures | MFA, rate limiting, secure sessions |
| A08 | Integrity Failures | Signed updates, safe deserialization |
| A09 | Logging Failures | Audit logs, alerting, monitoring |
| A10 | Exception Handling | Graceful errors, no info leakage |
A01: Broken Access Control
// Always verify ownership
if (resource.userId !== currentUser.id) {
throw new ForbiddenException();
}
// Deny by default
const allowed = permissions.includes(requiredPermission);
if (!allowed) throw new ForbiddenException();
// Rate limit sensitive endpoints
app.use('/api/admin/*', adminRateLimiter);
A02: Security Misconfiguration
// Security headers
import helmet from 'helmet';
app.use(helmet());
// Strict CORS
app.use(cors({
origin: ['https://myapp.com'],
credentials: true
}));
// Hide errors in production
if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
app.use((err, req, res, next) => {
res.status(500).json({ error: 'Internal error' });
});
}
A03: Supply Chain Failures (NEW in 2025)
# Audit dependencies
npm audit
pip-audit
mvn dependency-check:check
# Use lockfiles
npm ci # Instead of npm install
# Verify package integrity
npm install --ignore-scripts
npm config set ignore-scripts true
A04: Cryptographic Failures
// Strong password hashing
import { hash, verify } from 'argon2';
const hashed = await hash(password, { type: argon2id });
// Secure random
import { randomBytes, randomUUID } from 'crypto';
const token = randomBytes(32).toString('hex');
// AES-256-GCM for encryption (not CBC)
A05: Injection
// SQL - use parameterized queries
const user = await prisma.user.findUnique({ where: { id } });
await db.query('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = $1', [id]);
// Command - use execFile, not exec
import { execFile } from 'child_process';
execFile('ls', ['-la', safeArg]);
// XSS - sanitize HTML
import DOMPurify from 'dompurify';
element.innerHTML = DOMPurify.sanitize(userInput);
A06: Insecure Design
Key practices:
- Threat modeling during design phase
- Secure design patterns (fail-safe, defense in depth)
- Security requirements in user stories
- Abuse case testing
A07: Authentication Failures
// Rate limiting
import rateLimit from 'express-rate-limit';
const loginLimiter = rateLimit({
windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000,
max: 5
});
// Secure cookies
res.cookie('session', token, {
httpOnly: true,
secure: true,
sameSite: 'strict'
});
// Strong passwords (12+ chars, mixed)
A08: Integrity Failures
// Verify signatures on updates
// Use subresource integrity (SRI)
<script src="lib.js"
integrity="sha384-..."
crossorigin="anonymous">
</script>
// Safe deserialization
// Avoid: JSON.parse(untrusted)
// Use: zod/yup validation
A09: Logging & Alerting Failures
// Log security events
logger.warn({
event: 'auth_failure',
userId: attemptedId,
ip: req.ip,
timestamp: new Date().toISOString()
});
// Events to log:
// - Login success/failure
// - Password changes
// - Permission denied
// - Rate limit exceeded
A10: Exception Handling (NEW in 2025)
// Graceful error handling
try {
await riskyOperation();
} catch (error) {
logger.error({ error, context });
// Generic response to user
throw new InternalServerException('Operation failed');
}
// Never expose stack traces
// Never expose internal paths
// Never expose SQL/DB errors
Security Scanning Commands
# Dependencies
npm audit --json
snyk test
# Secrets
gitleaks detect
trufflehog git file://.
# SAST
semgrep --config=p/security-audit .
# Docker
trivy image myimage:latest
Checklist
| Risk | Prevention |
|---|---|
| SQL Injection | Parameterized queries, ORMs |
| XSS | Escape output, CSP headers |
| CSRF | CSRF tokens, SameSite cookies |
| Auth issues | MFA, rate limiting, secure sessions |
| Secrets | Environment variables, vaults |
| Supply chain | Audit, lockfiles, SBOMs |
Anti-Patterns
| Anti-Pattern | Why It's Bad | Correct Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Checking permissions in frontend only | Client-side bypass (A01) | Always verify on backend |
| Using weak crypto (MD5, DES) | Easily broken (A04) | Use AES-256-GCM, argon2, SHA-256+ |
npm install in CI/CD |
Non-deterministic builds (A03) | Use npm ci with lockfiles |
| Catching all exceptions silently | Hides security issues (A10) | Log errors, fail gracefully |
| Trusting user input in queries | Injection attacks (A05) | Always use parameterized queries |
| No session timeout | Session hijacking (A07) | Implement idle + absolute timeout |
Quick Troubleshooting
| Issue | Likely Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| npm audit shows vulnerabilities | Outdated dependencies (A03) | Run npm audit fix or update manually |
| Login always fails after 5 attempts | Rate limiter too strict (A07) | Review rate limit settings |
| Secrets leaked in git history | Committed .env file (A02) | Use BFG to clean history, rotate secrets |
| Database queries slow/failing | SQL injection attack (A05) | Review logs, switch to parameterized queries |
| Users accessing others' data | Missing authorization (A01) | Add ownership checks in all endpoints |
| Stack traces in production | Exception handling disabled (A10) | Enable production error handling |