How do you prioritize vulnerability scanning for the OWASP top 10 web application risks?

Priorititizing vulnerability scan for OWASP Top 10: > Assess your web application to find the relevant OWASP Top 10 risks. > Risk rate against each vulnerability in proportion to the likelihood of exploitation, impact, and data sensitivity. > Target those threats that have a high potential impact on your applications. > Use OWASP ZAP and Burp Suite tools against your application on a regular basis. ? Continuously monitor and scan to catch newly discovered vulnerability and make remediation as quick as possible. ? Clustering remediation efforts and rescan to validate the remediation efforts. ? Educate both development and security teams about OWASP Top 10 and how they can help prevent these vulnerabilities.

OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities (2021 Edition) 1. Broken Access Control 2. Cryptographic Failures 3. Injection 4. Insecure Design 5. Security Misconfiguration 6. Vulnerable and Outdated Components 7. Identification and Authentication Failures 8. Software and Data Integrity Failures 9. Security Logging and Monitoring Failures 10. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

Vulnerability scanning is crucial for web application security, but it can be overwhelming. To prioritize vulnerabilities, use the OWASP top 10, a list of common and critical web application security issues. It includes Injection, XSS, Broken Authentication, and more. While not exhaustive, it guides developers, testers, and security pros. By focusing on these risks, organizations can allocate resources effectively and enhance web application security.

1. Industry-Recognized Standard The OWASP Top 10 is widely recognized and accepted as a standard for web application security. 2. Focus on the Most Critical Risks The OWASP Top 10 highlights the most critical web application security risks, 3. Comprehensive Coverage The list covers a broad spectrum of security issues, including both technical vulnerabilities and design flaws, 4. Facilitates Compliance Adhering to the OWASP Top 10 helps organizations meet regulatory and compliance requirements, such as PCI DSS, 5. Educates Developers and Security Teams The OWASP Top 10 serves as an educational resource, helping developers and security teams understand common vulnerabilities 6. Improves Security Posture Regular scanning against

Using the OWASP top 10 for vulnerability scanning offers multiple advantages. Firstly, it prioritizes the most prevalent and severe web application security issues, safeguarding your business, reputation, and compliance. Secondly, it aligns your scanning practices with industry standards, enhancing your security posture and minimizing potential vulnerabilities. Thirdly, it provides access to valuable resources and tools from the OWASP community, enabling better learning, scanning, and faster remediation. Overall, leveraging the OWASP top 10 improves scanning efficiency and effectiveness while promoting robust web application security.

Select Scanning Tools: Target OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities. Popular tools include: Zed Attack Proxy: An open-source web application security scanner. Burp Suite: A comprehensive platform for security testing of web applications. Nessus: covers network and web application vulnerabilities. Qualys WAS: A cloud-based web application scanning service. Configure the Scanning Tool Set Up the Tool: Install and configure the selected scanning tool. Target Scope: Define the scope of your scans, including the web applications Remediate Vulnerabilities Develop Action Plan: Create an action plan to address the identified vulnerabilities, Fix and Patch: Apply fixes, patches, or other mitigation measures to remediate the vulnerabilities.

Using the OWASP top 10 for vulnerability scanning involves three steps: plan, scan, and report. Understand the categories, scan for risks, and prioritize vulnerabilities based on severity. This approach enhances web application security effectively.

1. Assess and Inventory Your Environment Asset Inventory: Create a detailed inventory of all assets, including web applications, servers, databases, and network devices. 2. Define Risk Criteria Severity: Prioritize vulnerabilities based on their severity levels (e.g., critical, high, medium, low). Exploitability: Consider how easily a vulnerability can be exploited. Impact: Assess the potential impact of exploiting the vulnerability on your business operations and data security. Exposure: Focus on assets that are publicly accessible or handle sensitive data. 3. Set Scanning Goals and Objectives Compliance Requirements: Ensure your scanning efforts align with regulatory and compliance requirements (e.g., PCI DSS, GDPR).

In the planning phase, define your scanning scope, schedule, and goals. Determine which web applications and components to scan, scan frequency, and desired level of detail. Set priorities based on the risk and impact of each OWASP top 10 category. Allocate more resources to high-risk issues like injection and broken authentication, and less to lower-risk concerns like security misconfiguration.

Schedule regular vulnerability scans Initial Scans and Baseline Establishment Baseline Scan: Conduct an initial baseline scan to identify existing vulnerabilities. Comprehensive Coverage: Ensure that the initial scan covers all critical assets. Analyze and Prioritize Scan Results to prioritize vulnerabilities by assessing their severity, exploitability, impact, and exposure. Develop a remediation action plan that prioritizes critical and high-severity vulnerabilities. Assign specific vulnerabilities to appropriate teams or individuals for remediation. Deadlines: Set clear deadlines for remediation, starting with the most critical vulnerabilities. Schedule regular re-scans to verify that vulnerabilities have been successfully remediated.

During the scanning phase, select appropriate tools and methods for your scan. Automated scanners are software tools that detect vulnerabilities using predefined rules, while manual testing involves hands-on inspection and testing. Automated scanners offer convenience but may produce false positives and negatives. Manual testing allows for in-depth analysis but is more time-consuming and skill-dependent. Hybrid testing, combining automated and manual approaches, provides comprehensive scanning but can be complex and costly. Evaluate and optimize your hybrid testing strategy to align with your goals and priorities.

Not all vulnerabilities in the OWASP Top 10 are equally exploitable, so it's crucial to prioritise based on the potential impact & likelihood of exploitation. In a cloud-based software application I worked on, we found that security misconfigurations were more likely to be exploited than some of the other risks, so we prioritised scanning & remediation in this area. Focusing on the likelihood of exploitation allowed us to address the most immediate threats first, ensuring that the application remained secure even as new risks emerged.