#United States #San Francisco #Wallarm #OWASP #Business Logic Abuse

OWASP Releases First-Ever Business Logic Abuse Top 10 Vulnerabilities List

On June 4, 2025, Ivan Novikov, the co-founder and CEO of Wallarm, announced a significant milestone in application security: the release of the OWASP Business Logic Abuse Top 10 vulnerabilities list. This groundbreaking publication provides organizations with essential insights into business logic vulnerabilities that exist across various technology stacks. Unlike typical top ten lists that focus on specific technologies, this list highlights vulnerabilities that transcend individual tech domains.

Ivan Novikov presented these findings at the OWASP Global AppSec EU conference held in Barcelona on May 30, 2025. Joining him were Silvia Pravida, an API engineer at a financial institution, and Sergei Lega, the lead product manager at Wallarm. Their collective effort aims to equip businesses with the necessary knowledge to guard against emerging threats.

OWASP, or the Open Worldwide Application Security Project, is a nonprofit organization focused on improving software security. Their mission began with the original OWASP Top 10, which identified web application vulnerabilities. This latest list extends their initiative to include a broader category: business logic abuse.

Silvia Pravida emphasized the need for clarity within the industry, stating, "PCI DSS 4.0 has made it clear that we must prevent business logic abuse under Requirement 6.2.4, but the challenge lies in understanding 'how' to do this. Without a standardized list of actual logic attack types, it's hard for financial teams to develop robust defenses. That's why I contributed to this OWASP project: to help shape a comprehensive guide that can prevent financial losses."

As applications have evolved in complexity, so have the techniques used by attackers. In past years, coding flaws were the primary vulnerability targets. However, in recent times, business logic flaws have gained prominence, as they exploit how applications function rather than merely examining the code. These attacks can manipulate the workflows, state transitions, and decision-making aspects of applications, allowing unauthorized access, circumvention of security measures, or disruptions of normal operations.

A recent case involving a mobile service provider in the UK, O2, serves as a stark reminder of the real risks associated with business logic abuse. This incident exposed user location data via call metadata, illustrating vulnerabilities like "Data Oracle Exposure" and "Missing Roles and Permission Checks."

Ivan Novikov further underscored the importance of establishing a common language to discuss business logic attacks, as they are not confined to any specific software stack or technology. These types of attacks have been on the rise, demanding greater recognition and understanding within the security community.

The Business Logic Abuse Top 10 aims to address these issues by categorizing the various forms of such vulnerabilities, thus facilitating better understanding and implementation of security controls by practitioners and vendors. The top 10 vulnerabilities identified are as follows:

1. Lifecycle Orphaned Transitions Flaws
2. Logic Bomb, Loops, and Halting Issues
3. Data Type Smuggling
4. Sequential State Bypass
5. Data Oracle Exposure
6. Missing Roles and Permission Checks
7. Transition Validation Flaws
8. Replays of Idempotency Operations
9. Race Condition and Concurrency Issues
10. Resource Quota Violations

To combat these vulnerabilities, Wallarm offers extensive protection through AI-driven anomaly detection, comprehensive API traffic inspection, and stringent policy enforcement. Their cutting-edge solutions can detect orphaned workflows, block sequential state bypasses, and prevent various attacks targeting the logic layer of applications. Wallarm’s protective capabilities extend to AI applications as well, fostering resilient and secure API-driven workflows.

Looking ahead, the Business Logic Abuse Top 10 will remain an ongoing community initiative, welcoming feedback and contributions to continuously enhance its relevance and applicability. For those interested in exploring the complete list and detailed exploit examples, more information can be found on the OWASP website.

In conclusion, as businesses continue to leverage advanced technology, safeguarding against business logic abuse becomes imperative. This new OWASP list sheds light on critical attack vectors, giving organizations the tools they need to fortify their defenses. The collaboration between experts in the field signals a proactive approach to tackling these evolving threats, ensuring a more secure digital landscape for all.