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OWASP-08
Failures relating to code and infrastructure that does not protect against integrity violations.
Software and data integrity failures relate to code and infrastructure that does not protect against invalid or untrusted code/data being treated as trusted and valid.
Impact: Focuses on making assumptions about software updates and critical data without verifying integrity. Notable CWEs include CWE-829 (Untrusted Functionality), CWE-915 (Object Attribute Modification), CWE-502 (Insecure Deserialization).
Relying on plugins, libraries, or modules from untrusted sources, repositories, and CDNs.
CI/CD pipeline without consuming and providing software integrity checks, introducing potential for unauthorized access, insecure code, or system compromise.
Auto-update functionality where updates are downloaded without sufficient integrity verification and applied to previously trusted application.
Objects or data encoded/serialized into a structure that an attacker can see and modify.
Pulling code or artifacts from untrusted places without verifying signatures or checksums.
A company uses external service provider for support functionality with DNS mapping.
Setup: myCompany.SupportProvider.com mapped to support.myCompany.com
Attack: All cookies (including authentication) set on myCompany.com domain are sent to support provider. Anyone with access to support provider's infrastructure can steal cookies and perform session hijacking.
Impact: Complete account takeover for all users visiting support subdomain.
Many home routers, set-top boxes, and device firmware don't verify updates via signed firmware.
Attack: Unsigned firmware is growing target for attackers. Malicious firmware can be installed without detection.
Impact: Device compromise with no mechanism to remediate other than waiting for future versions to age out.
Developer can't find updated package version, downloads from random website instead of trusted package manager.
Attack: Package is not signed, no opportunity to ensure integrity. Package includes malicious code.
Impact: Supply chain compromise, malware in production systems.
React application calls Spring Boot microservices, serializing user state and passing back and forth with each request.
Attack: Attacker notices "rO0" Java object signature (base64) and uses Java Deserialization Scanner to gain remote code execution.
Impact: Complete server compromise through deserialization vulnerability.
Use digital signatures or similar mechanisms to verify software/data is from expected source and hasn't been altered.
Ensure review process for code and configuration changes to minimize chance of malicious code/configuration in software pipeline.
Ensure CI/CD pipeline has proper:
Ensure unsigned or unencrypted serialized data is not received from untrusted clients without integrity check or digital signature to detect tampering or replay.
Content adapted from OWASP Top 10:2025, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0