Security Flashcards

What is a timing attack in the context of web authentication?

Answer: Exploiting measurable differences in response time to infer whether a guess (e.g., password or token) is partially correct

Timing attacks measure response latency variations (e.g., early exit on string comparison) to deduce secret values one character at a time.

Which of the following best describes a stored (persistent) XSS attack?

Answer: Malicious script is saved in the server's database and served to all users who view the affected page

Stored XSS persists in the database (e.g., a comment field) and executes in every victim's browser when they load the page containing the payload.

What does HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) accomplish?

Answer: It instructs browsers to only connect to the site over HTTPS for a specified duration, preventing protocol downgrade attacks

HSTS uses the Strict-Transport-Security response header to tell browsers to refuse HTTP connections to the domain for the max-age period.

An API returns a list of orders and uses sequential numeric IDs in the URL (e.g., /api/orders/1001). What vulnerability does this expose?

Answer: Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR), allowing users to access other users' orders by changing the ID

IDOR occurs when predictable object references are not access-controlled, letting attackers enumerate and access unauthorized resources.

Which hashing algorithm is currently recommended for securely storing passwords?

Answer: bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2

bcrypt, scrypt, and Argon2 are adaptive, memory-hard algorithms designed to be slow and costly to brute-force, unlike general-purpose hashes.

In the context of TLS, what is certificate pinning?

Answer: Hardcoding expected certificate or public key values in the client to reject unexpected certificates even if CA-signed

Certificate pinning ensures the client only trusts a specific certificate or public key, protecting against rogue CA-issued certificates.

What is the OWASP Top 10 primarily used for?

Answer: Raising awareness of the most critical web application security risks

The OWASP Top 10 is an industry-standard awareness document cataloging the most critical and widespread web application security risks.