CREST Secure Coding & Application Security 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is SQL injection and how is it primarily prevented?
- It inserts malicious SQL into queries; prevented by using parameterized queries or prepared statements (Correct answer)
- It overflows a database buffer; prevented by input length limits
- It encrypts database queries; prevented by disabling encryption
- It replays old database transactions; prevented by session tokens
Correct answer: It inserts malicious SQL into queries; prevented by using parameterized queries or prepared statements
SQL injection manipulates database queries by inserting malicious SQL via unsanitized input; parameterized queries separate code from data, preventing the injection.
Question 2: Which OWASP Top 10 category covers security misconfigurations such as default credentials and open cloud storage buckets?
- A05: Security Misconfiguration (Correct answer)
- A01: Broken Access Control
- A03: Injection
- A07: Identification and Authentication Failures
Correct answer: A05: Security Misconfiguration
OWASP A05 Security Misconfiguration encompasses improperly configured security settings, default credentials, unnecessary features, and misconfigured cloud services.
Question 3: What is Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and which type allows attackers to store malicious scripts on the server?
- XSS injects malicious scripts into web pages; stored XSS persists scripts on the server (Correct answer)
- XSS steals server-side session tokens; reflected XSS stores them
- XSS modifies HTTP headers; DOM XSS stores them in cookies
- XSS overwrites database records; blind XSS persists them
Correct answer: XSS injects malicious scripts into web pages; stored XSS persists scripts on the server
XSS injects client-side scripts into pages viewed by other users; stored (persistent) XSS saves the malicious script on the server so it executes for every visitor.
Question 4: What does CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) exploit?
- A victim's authenticated session to make unauthorized requests on their behalf (Correct answer)
- A server-side code execution vulnerability
- An unvalidated redirect in web applications
- A weak session token generation algorithm
Correct answer: A victim's authenticated session to make unauthorized requests on their behalf
CSRF tricks an authenticated user's browser into sending forged requests to a web application, leveraging the user's existing session cookies without their knowledge.
Question 5: Which HTTP security header helps mitigate XSS attacks by restricting which sources of scripts are trusted?
- Content-Security-Policy (CSP) (Correct answer)
- X-Frame-Options
- Strict-Transport-Security
- X-Content-Type-Options
Correct answer: Content-Security-Policy (CSP)
The Content-Security-Policy header defines which origins are permitted to load scripts, styles, and other resources, blocking execution of injected inline scripts.
Question 6: What is an Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) vulnerability?
- When an application exposes internal object references without access control checks, allowing unauthorized data access (Correct answer)
- When user input directly controls database queries
- When an application redirects users to untrusted external URLs
- When session tokens are predictable and can be guessed
Correct answer: When an application exposes internal object references without access control checks, allowing unauthorized data access
IDOR occurs when a user can directly reference internal objects (like user IDs in URLs) and access data they are not authorized to see because access control checks are absent.
CREST Secure Coding & Application Security 1
What is SQL injection and how is it primarily prevented?