Systems & Application Security Flashcards

Which secure software development practice involves reviewing code to identify security flaws before deployment?

Answer: Static code analysis

Static code analysis examines source code without executing it to find security vulnerabilities early in the development lifecycle.

What is the primary purpose of application whitelisting?

Answer: Allowing only pre-approved applications to execute

Application whitelisting permits only explicitly approved programs to run, preventing unauthorized or malicious software from executing.

Which vulnerability is caused when an application processes more data than a fixed-size memory buffer can hold?

Answer: Buffer overflow

A buffer overflow occurs when input data exceeds the allocated buffer size, potentially allowing attackers to overwrite adjacent memory and execute arbitrary code.

In the context of patch management, what does 'patch prioritization' primarily consider?

Answer: The severity of the vulnerability and asset criticality

Patch prioritization weighs the CVSS severity score of the vulnerability against the criticality of the affected asset to determine remediation order.

What is the purpose of a Web Application Firewall (WAF)?

Answer: To filter and monitor HTTP traffic to protect web applications from attacks

A WAF inspects HTTP/HTTPS traffic between a web application and the internet, blocking common attacks like SQL injection and XSS.

Which concept describes running applications with the minimum permissions necessary to perform their function?

Answer: Least privilege

The principle of least privilege limits an application's permissions to only what is required, reducing the attack surface if the application is compromised.

What is a 'zero-day' vulnerability?

Answer: A vulnerability that is publicly known but has no available patch

A zero-day vulnerability is one that is publicly known (or known to attackers) with no vendor-supplied patch available, leaving systems exposed.