OWASP Top 10 Explained: Which Vulnerabilities Are in Your Code?
The OWASP Top 10 is the industry-standard list of the most critical web application security risks. Here's what each one means in plain English — and how to check whether your own code is affected.
TL;DR
The OWASP Top 10 covers access control, crypto, injection, design, config, dependencies, auth, integrity, logging, and SSRF. Scan your repo to see which categories your code triggers.
What is the OWASP Top 10?
The OWASP Top 10 is a regularly-updated awareness document from the Open Worldwide Application Security Project, ranking the most common and impactful web application security risks. It's referenced by auditors, security teams, and compliance frameworks worldwide as a baseline for "are you covering the basics?"
The 10 categories (2021 edition)
A01Broken Access Control
Users can act outside their permissions — viewing others' data (IDOR), reaching admin routes, or path traversal. The most common category.
A02Cryptographic Failures
Sensitive data exposed via weak/missing encryption, hardcoded secrets, or plaintext storage. (Formerly "Sensitive Data Exposure.")
A03Injection
Untrusted input changes a command or query — SQL injection, command injection, and XSS all live here.
A04Insecure Design
Flaws in the design itself — missing rate limits, weak business-logic controls — that no amount of clean code fixes.
A05Security Misconfiguration
Default credentials, verbose errors, permissive CORS, open cloud buckets, unnecessary features left enabled.
A06Vulnerable & Outdated Components
Using dependencies with known CVEs. A single outdated package can compromise the whole app.
A07Identification & Authentication Failures
Weak passwords, broken session handling, missing brute-force protection, flawed JWT validation.
A08Software & Data Integrity Failures
Trusting unverified updates, insecure deserialization, or a compromised CI/CD supply chain.
A09Security Logging & Monitoring Failures
No logs or alerts, so breaches go undetected for months. Hard to investigate without an audit trail.
A10Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
The server is tricked into making requests to internal systems or cloud metadata endpoints, leaking credentials.
Which of these is in your code right now?
Run a free OWASP scanHow to check your own code
You don't need to audit all 10 by hand. SwarmFlow scans your repository and maps findings to the OWASP Top 10, so you get a clear traffic-light view of which categories are flagged — plus the exact file:line and a paste-ready fix for each issue.
Your scan report includes an OWASP coverage table you can export as a PDF for auditors and partners. Note: a scan shows where issues were detected — it's a security tool, not a formal certification.
Keep it covered continuously
Security isn't a one-time audit. Add the SwarmFlow GitHub Action to gate every pull request, and schedule recurring scans so new OWASP issues are caught the moment they're introduced.
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