Practical security insights for teams without a SOC

The OWASP API Top 10 is a ranked list of the ten most critical API security risks, and the 2023 edition is still the current version. It covers broken authorization, broken authentication, resource abuse, server-side request forgery, misconfiguration, and unsafe use of third-party APIs. This guide explains all ten risks with an attack example, a […]

The best vulnerability scanning tools in 2026 depend on what you need to scan. ScanTitan, Intruder, and HostedScan serve small teams that want cloud scanning without a security department, Tenable Nessus, Qualys VMDR, and Rapid7 InsightVM cover servers and networks, and Invicti, Burp Suite DAST, and Detectify test running web applications. This guide compares ten […]

An exposed backup files vulnerability occurs when a backup, database dump, old source-code copy, deployment archive, or editor-generated file is publicly accessible from a web server. Files such as config.php.bak, database.sql, site-backup.zip, or index.php~ can reveal source code, credentials, private data, and internal application details.The impact depends on what the backup contains. An obsolete static […]

XML External Entity (XXE) Injection is a web security vulnerability in which an application processes attacker-controlled XML with a parser that is allowed to resolve external entities or other external XML resources. That unsafe parser behavior can expose local files, trigger server-side requests to internal or external systems, or create other unintended resource access. The […]

A directory listing vulnerability occurs when a web server exposes a browsable index of files and subdirectories that were not intended to be discovered this way. Instead of returning an index page or denying access, the server generates a list that can reveal filenames, backup archives, configuration files, logs, source code, database exports, or internal […]

Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) is an access control vulnerability in which an application uses a user-controllable reference to retrieve, change, delete, or otherwise act on an object without verifying that the requester is authorized to perform that action on that specific object.The central mistake is confusing authentication with authorization. Authentication answers “Who are you?” […]

WordPress user enumeration is the process of discovering information that identifies valid WordPress accounts, such as user IDs, display names, author slugs, author URLs, or whether an account exists. WordPress can expose some of this information intentionally through author pages, REST API responses, sitemaps, and login behavior. Enumeration does not bypass authentication and does not […]

A CORS misconfiguration occurs when a web application allows an untrusted origin to read cross-origin responses that should only be available to trusted websites. Common causes include reflecting arbitrary Origin values, weak origin validation, trusting null, or allowing origins that attackers can control.Not every permissive CORS response is an exploitable vulnerability. The real risk depends […]

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is a web security vulnerability in which an attacker causes a user’s browser to send an unintended request to an application that accepts the user’s automatically supplied credentials or authority. The browser may be authenticated, but the application fails to verify that the user actually intended the action.That distinction is the […]

A WordPress pharma hack is a post-compromise SEO spam infection that adds pharmaceutical keywords, links, pages, redirects, or hidden content to a WordPress website without the owner’s permission. It is also commonly called a Viagra hack, pharmaceutical spam hack, or pharma SEO spam.The infection can be confusing because the website may look normal when you […]

An open redirect vulnerability occurs when a web application lets attacker-controlled input determine where a user is redirected without sufficiently restricting the final destination. An attacker can then create a link that begins on a legitimate domain but sends the victim to an external site chosen by the attacker.The simplest impact is phishing: the trusted […]

Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) is a web application security vulnerability in which attacker-controlled input causes a server-side component to send a network request to an unintended destination. The defining characteristic is that the sensitive request originates from the server, not from the attacker’s browser.That distinction matters because an application server may be able to reach […]