Injection Flaws

Injection flaws are a type of security vulnerability found in web applications that arise from inadequate input validation. These flaws allow attackers to inject malicious code into a system through a web application, which then gets executed by the underlying software or database. The consequences can be severe, including data theft, loss of data integrity, and unauthorized access to system resources.

Common types of injection flaws include:

The primary defense against injection flaws involves proper input validation and sanitization. This means checking and cleaning all input data to ensure it does not contain potentially harmful content before it is processed. Additionally, using prepared statements with parameterized queries in databases, employing proper API usage that avoids the interpreter entirely, or using ORM frameworks that abstract the raw queries can significantly reduce the risk of injection attacks.

Developers and security teams must be vigilant in their coding practices and use security-focused design principles to mitigate the risks associated with injection flaws. Regular security audits and adopting coding standards that focus on security can also help prevent these vulnerabilities from being introduced into software.