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Tuesday
Jun192007

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Web Application Security - But Were Afraid to Ask

Here is an interesting general document about web application security, a list with frequently asked questions: http://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_AppSec_FAQ

It gives good advice on how to design the login process. It describes a best practice for the "Lost Password" feature, which is especially important these days where there are an increasing number of attacks based on this feature. One thing I have to add in this context: You should not return a meaningful error message if the user name for the lost password existed. An attacker can use this to find valid user names, and did you know that a password cracker can check 30,000 passwords a minute over the Internet?

BTW, I'm glad that LoginSugar, the popular login system generator, has seen a security update after I published several security issues here. If you use it, please download the new version which is now also compatible with Rails 1.2.

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Reader Comments (165)

Heiko, thanks for the reminder about the OWASP faq.

One list people might not be aware of is the which is a top 10 list for common vulnerabilities in 2007. Heiko, if you want an idea for articles, how about a series of articles on how to avoid each one when writing Rails apps..

June 20, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterDan Kubb

Dan, I have a link to the Top Ten on the right side of the first page.

I'm actually planning to write such a document for the OWASP, you'll be hearing about it in July ...

June 20, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterHeiko

Hi,

I find one related story with this here:

Security CENTRAL Forum

http://www.SCForum.info

July 3, 2007 | Unregistered Commenterniki

Thanks for publishing all the info & pointers. I'm just getting going on my first real RoR application, and this is a great help.

July 18, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterBill Barnard

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