While hackers continue to become more sophisticated and able to attack more secure software, several software security issues always seem to be a common thread for every attack. These are the most common culprits, along with some solutions to prevent your application and users from becoming victims.
Many of the worst security breaches or cyberattacks begin with a seemingly minor vulnerability or software quality issue. However, failure to maintain a strong security posture and update or test your applications regularly can make it easier for attackers to take advantage of them.
The consequences of these attacks can be disastrous and far-reaching for your team and your software. In fact, the majority of security incidents are the result of software security defects. It could also potentially cost your company millions of lost dollars in downtime while hackers use your compromised data to their benefit.
Even more, your company could end up losing money due to fines and settlement fees and suffer the consequences of a tarnished brand reputation for years to come.
Outdated code—both proprietary and open source—is a major security liability because it often contains known vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit. Failure to update your libraries, third-party components, or frameworks can leave your software vulnerable to potential threats and exploitation through those vulnerabilities.
The most surefire way to protect your software from these vulnerabilities is to implement a rigorous patch management process for your team. Monitor your libraries for updates regularly and use automated testing tools to find potential software vulnerabilities. Keeping your security team aware of security patches can also help you keep your entire software stack secure.
Open-source software security issues are far too common, especially in libraries that have known vulnerabilities. Attackers frequently take advantage of these less trusted libraries to steal sensitive data or take over servers.
For example, in 2014, a bug in the open-source Open SSL cryptography library named Heartbleed affected hundreds of thousands of websites and left them vulnerable to data loss or takeovers. Attackers may have used this vulnerability to steal private information for months before its disclosure.
Open-source component attacks are still a major threat that developers must address regularly and vigilantly unless they want their software’s name in the news for all the wrong reasons. Fortunately, using open-source code scanning tools like Kiuwan SCA makes it easier to detect vulnerabilities before hackers can.
Injection vulnerabilities, including SQL injection attacks, occur when an attacker sends untrustworthy data to an interpreter within your software as a command. This insecure data tricks the interpreter into accessing more sensitive data without proper authorization. It can also trick the interpreter into performing unintended commands.
SQL injections allow hackers to exploit the information inside your software’s database. As a result, it enables them to access sensitive data you may have stored in your database, such as email addresses, passwords, social security numbers, or credit card information.
Misconfigured security settings are common problems in software development. They usually originate from incomplete configuration files, misconfigured HTTP information, and reliance on default settings. To avoid these issues, you must properly configure your OS applications and ensure they are upgraded and updated on time, every time.
Although it’s usually associated with web applications, hackers can also use XSS attacks on software applications by injecting malicious code to bypass access controls and set up phishing attacks to steal users’ identities. This security breach is as old as the internet itself and can still cause serious damage to your software if hackers are given easy access.
Many software applications use APIs to communicate seamlessly with other apps. However, hackers can also use XSS attacks on your software’s API, particularly if it uses HTML, XML, or JSON code, which can help them access your application or the one it’s connected to with your API.
You can make your API less of a target by regularly and properly sanitizing your user input and changing your app’s API key regularly. Your API key should also be kept in a secure part of your application where users can’t access it without special permissions.
It’s a commonly used phrase in technical media and an even more common software security weakness. A buffer overflow occurs when you try to input too much data into memory that can’t accommodate it.
Overwriting a program’s storage capacity can lead to malfunctioning the system because the new data can crush it, corrupt data, and culminate in an injection attack with malicious code. Sometimes, an attacker can use the injected malicious code to take control of your software’s system.
SSRF attacks occur when an attacker tricks your server into making requests on their behalf. Doing this can give them unauthorized access to your internal resources.
Fortunately, there are a few measures you can implement to deter hackers from using SSRF attacks. Utilizing input validation and whitelisting resources makes it easier to restrict the types of resources users can leverage and keeps your internal information out of the wrong hands.
Imagine a situation where every user in your system has access to all of the information in your system. Every single one of them can modify data, access other users’ accounts, view or download sensitive information, and change the system to suit their personal needs.
Sounds like a software security nightmare, right?
That’s why strict access control rules and configurations are invaluable. Failure to have these rules in place makes it easier for any user—including hackers posing as users—to access information they shouldn’t be able to see.
Using strong encryption methods allows you to protect your sensitive data. However, using a weak encryption algorithm or failing to properly manage your keys can make it less effective. Maintaining strong encryption standards and rotating your keys regularly makes it easier to keep your information safe.
Attackers can exploit unrestricted URLs to manipulate the behavior of web-based software applications. To prevent exploitation, developers should implement proper input validation for URLs and restrict access to sensitive functionalities.
Your next security breach could even come from within your own team. There are a few worst-case scenarios that could compromise your software security, including:
While these scenarios may seem unlikely, the odds are never zero. Several steps can also be taken to prevent these types of inside security breaches, such as regularly training your team to recognize potential threats, implementing role-based access control, revoking access for former employees, and using the right app security tools to make your software a more difficult target for hackers.
This static application security testing (SAST) tool is designed to detect potential security flaws in your application’s proprietary code. Kiuwan Code Security offers endless customization opportunities and supports dozens of coding languages. It also enables developers to create an action plan that automatically addresses defects as soon as the system finds them, making it easier to keep up with security patches and protect your users’ data.
Kiuwan’s software composition analysis (SCA) tools make it easy to automatically find known software security threats in your code and address them before hackers can use them to compromise your system. It supports over 30 programming languages and automates the code management process.
With Kiuwan Insights Open Source, developers can more easily address potential security vulnerabilities and prioritize them based on urgency for safer, more secure software.
Code obfuscation can prevent attackers from executing SQL injection or XSS attacks. For software using C# as its primary programming language, developers can use Dotfuscator to obfuscate and harden code so it’s harder for hackers to decompile and leverage for their own purposes.
Designed to protect JavaScript applications, JSDefender makes it easier to prevent code tampering and reverse engineering attacks. It uses a suite of code obfuscation techniques to protect your code and make it much harder for would-be hackers to understand.
Kiuwan’s code testing and analysis tools make it easier to have a safe, secure, and more functional application. Request a free demo of our application security tools to see how we can keep your code safe today.
