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Session hijacking is a cybersecurity attack in which someone steals, predicts, fixes, or otherwise obtains a valid session identifier and uses it to impersonate an authenticated user. After a user signs in, a website or application usually creates a session. The session allows the user to continue using the service without entering their password for every request. If an attacker obtains the session token, the application may treat them as the legitimate user. The attacker may not need to know the victim’s password or complete multi-factor authentication because those steps were already completed when the session was created. A successful…

Authentication bypass is a security vulnerability that allows an attacker to access an account, application, device, or protected function without successfully completing the required identity checks. The attacker may avoid the login process entirely, exploit an alternative route with weaker protection, manipulate a token, abuse account recovery, or take advantage of a flaw in how the application validates credentials. A successful authentication-bypass attack may allow someone to: Authentication failures are ranked seventh in the OWASP Top 10:2025. The category includes improper authentication, session fixation, hard-coded credentials, weak certificate validation, and authentication bypass through alternate paths. OWASP’s Authentication Failures guidance explains…

Insecure Direct Object Reference, commonly shortened to IDOR, is an access-control vulnerability that allows a user to access or modify an object by changing an identifier in a request. The object might be: An application may require the user to sign in but fail to verify whether the requested object actually belongs to that user. Changing the identifier can then expose another person’s information or allow an unauthorized action. IDOR is not primarily a problem with predictable numbers. The underlying problem is a missing object-level authorization check. Random identifiers can reduce easy guessing, but they do not correct the missing…

Broken access control is a security weakness that allows a user to view information, use a function, or perform an action beyond the permissions assigned to their account. Authentication confirms who the user is. Access control determines what that authenticated—or unauthenticated, user is allowed to do. When access-control rules are missing, inconsistent, incorrectly implemented, or enforced only in the browser, an attacker may gain unauthorized access without stealing another person’s password. A successful attack may allow someone to: Broken Access Control remains the number-one risk in the OWASP Top 10:2025. OWASP reports that it had the highest number of occurrences…

Insecure deserialization is a software vulnerability that occurs when an application reconstructs an object from untrusted data without adequately verifying what the data contains or what the resulting object is allowed to do. Applications serialize data when they convert an object or application state into a format that can be stored or transmitted. They deserialize it when they convert that representation back into an object the program can use. Serialization itself is not a vulnerability. The danger appears when an attacker can modify serialized data and the application trusts the reconstructed object. A successful attack may allow someone to: MITRE…

XML External Entity injection, commonly abbreviated as XXE, is a security vulnerability that occurs when an application processes untrusted XML using an improperly configured parser. A vulnerable XML parser may accept instructions that tell it to load data from an external resource. An attacker can manipulate those instructions to make the application read sensitive local files, contact internal services, send information to an external server, or consume excessive system resources. XXE is a server-side vulnerability. The dangerous activity normally occurs inside the application, document processor, API, or background service that parses the malicious XML. Possible consequences include: The vulnerability is…

File inclusion is a web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to influence which file an application loads, displays, or executes. Applications commonly include files to reuse templates, navigation menus, language packs, configuration data, and shared program functions. The vulnerability appears when untrusted input controls the selected file without strict validation. Depending on how the application handles the file, a successful attack may expose sensitive information, reveal source code, execute malicious instructions, compromise accounts, or give an attacker control over the server. The two best-known forms are: Although file inclusion is often associated with older PHP applications, the underlying security…

Path traversal is a web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to access files or directories outside the location an application was designed to use. It is also known as directory traversal, directory climbing, file path traversal, or the dot-dot-slash attack. The vulnerability usually appears when an application places user-controlled information, such as a filename, document ID, image name, or download path, into a filesystem operation without enforcing a safe boundary. A vulnerable application may intend to retrieve a profile image or downloadable report. An attacker may manipulate the requested path so that the application reads a configuration file, source-code…

Command injection is a cybersecurity vulnerability that allows an attacker to make an application execute unintended commands. The most common form is operating system command injection, in which unsafe user input reaches a system shell or command-line program. A vulnerable application may intend to run one harmless system operation, such as checking a network address, resizing an image, or creating a file. If it combines that operation with untrusted input incorrectly, an attacker may be able to change the command or add another instruction. Successful command injection can give an attacker significant control over the affected server. Depending on the…

Server-side request forgery, commonly shortened to SSRF, is a web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to manipulate a server into making an unintended network request. The attacker is not necessarily accessing the target resource directly. Instead, they abuse a vulnerable website, API, or application as an intermediary. Because the request comes from a trusted server, it may reach systems that are not accessible from the public internet. A successful SSRF attack may expose internal services, cloud credentials, administrative interfaces, sensitive files, or protected application data. In severe cases, it can help an attacker move deeper into an organization’s network…