The OWASP Top 10:2025 is OWASP’s current awareness guide to ten major categories of web-application security risk. It is a useful map for learning what can go wrong and where to start, but it is not a complete security checklist or proof that an application is safe.
What is the OWASP Top 10?
OWASP describes the Top 10 as “a standard awareness document for developers and web application security.” It groups important risks into categories rather than prescribing every control an application needs. The 2025 edition is intended for awareness and entry-level training; use it to orient your learning, not as a substitute for detailed, testable security requirements. OWASP Top 10 project
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
What are the OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities in 2025?
The official 2025 list contains these ten categories. The names describe broad types of failure, not ten individual bugs.
Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchWindows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstall- A01:2025 Broken Access Control: A person can access data or perform an action beyond their authorization. Start by checking authorization on the server for every protected object and operation.
- A02:2025 Security Misconfiguration: Unsafe defaults, exposed administration, excessive permissions, or inconsistent settings leave an application open to attack. Use hardened, repeatable configurations and remove unnecessary features.
- A03:2025 Software Supply Chain Failures: Dependencies, plugins, build systems, or distribution paths can be compromised. Inventory components, review and pin versions, protect build pipelines, and verify provenance where practical.
- A04:2025 Cryptographic Failures: Sensitive information is exposed because encryption or key handling is missing or inadequate. Classify data, use modern approved protocols, and keep key management separate from application code.
- A05:2025 Injection: Untrusted input changes the meaning of a command or query sent to an interpreter. Prefer parameterized APIs, context-aware output encoding, and allow-list validation.
- A06:2025 Insecure Design: A necessary security control was not built into the workflow. Model threats and abuse cases before implementation, and review the business rules the application must enforce.
- A07:2025 Authentication Failures: Login, session, account recovery, or identity checks can be bypassed or weakened. Use maintained authentication frameworks, handle sessions securely, and use multi-factor authentication where appropriate.
- A08:2025 Software or Data Integrity Failures: Code or data crosses a trust boundary without adequate verification. Examine assumptions around updates, serialization, CI/CD, and artifact integrity.
- A09:2025 Security Logging and Alerting Failures: Security events may be missing, unusable, or never prompt a response. Log relevant events without exposing sensitive data, and connect meaningful alerts to response procedures.
- A10:2025 Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions: Errors, timeouts, resource exhaustion, or other abnormal states lead to unsafe behavior, such as failing open or skipping checks. Define safe failure behavior and test abnormal paths.
What changed in the OWASP Top 10:2025?
The 2025 edition adds Software Supply Chain Failures as A03 and Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions as A10. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF), a standalone category in 2021, is included under Broken Access Control in 2025. Several categories also move: Security Misconfiguration rises from #5 to #2, while Cryptographic Failures is #4, Injection #5, and Insecure Design #6. Broken Access Control remains #1. OWASP Top 10:2025 introduction
#1 Best Overall
OWASP says its methodology combines contributed vulnerability data with community input. The list is data-informed rather than purely data-driven because some risks are difficult to test at scale and may be underrepresented in historical tooling data.
OWASP reports that 3.73% of applications tested had one or more of the 40 CWEs in Broken Access Control; 3.00% had one or more of the 16 CWEs in Security Misconfiguration; and 3.80% had one or more of the 32 CWEs in Cryptographic Failures. These are OWASP Foundation figures published in 2025 from contributed data. They are incidence figures, not the probability that any particular application is vulnerable.
Rank #2
- Comes with secure packaging
- It can be a gift item
- Easy to read text
How should a beginner learn the OWASP Top 10?
- Choose an application you are authorized to inspect. Use a deliberately vulnerable training application or your own test project; do not probe systems without permission.
- Take one category at a time. Identify the trust boundary or control involved—for example, a user-to-server authorization check or an application-to-database query.
- Read the matching OWASP guidance. The OWASP Cheat Sheet Series includes guidance relevant to authorization, cryptographic storage and TLS, injection prevention, threat modeling, and configuration.
- Write down one preventive and one detective control. A preventive control aims to stop the failure; a detective control helps identify it. For example, an authorization check can prevent unauthorized access, while a useful security event log can help reveal attempted abuse.
- Record how you would verify each control. Note what should happen in normal and abnormal conditions, and what evidence would show whether the control works.
When you compare categories, consider their root cause (design, code, configuration, dependency, or operations), affected layer, preventive and detective controls, and testability. Some risks—especially insecure design and effective logging or alerting—cannot be comprehensively assessed by automated tools alone.
Can a scanner test all of the OWASP Top 10?
No single automated scan can establish that an application is secure across all ten categories. Scanners can help identify some technical weaknesses, but they cannot fully judge whether a business workflow was designed securely or whether alerts lead to an effective response. Use tools as one part of assessment alongside design review, code review, configuration checks, and testing of the application’s actual rules and failure paths.
Rank #3
When should you use ASVS instead?
Use the Top 10 to build awareness and identify areas to investigate. If you need comprehensive, verifiable application-security requirements for development, review, or testing, OWASP recommends its Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS). The Top 10 is a starting point and bare minimum, not a complete specification. OWASP Application Security Verification Standard
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
