How to prevent injection attacks in OWASP Top security vulnerabilities?

To prevent injection attacks, which are among the top security vulnerabilities listed by OWASP, follow these best practices:

1. Use Parameterized Queries (Prepared Statements)

   • Avoid dynamic SQL queries that concatenate user input. Instead, use parameterized queries to separate SQL code from data.
   • Example: In Python with SQLite:

     cursor.execute("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ?", (user_input,))
     

2. Input Validation and Sanitization

   • Validate input against strict allowlists (e.g., regex patterns for expected formats like email or phone numbers).
   • Sanitize input to remove or escape potentially harmful characters.

3. Use ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) Frameworks

   • ORMs like Hibernate or Django ORM abstract SQL queries, reducing the risk of injection.

4. Least Privilege Principle

   • Restrict database user permissions to only necessary operations (e.g., read-only access if updates aren’t needed).

5. Escape Output

   • For web applications, escape user-generated content in HTML, JavaScript, or URLs to prevent Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), a related injection attack.

6. Use Web Application Firewalls (WAFs)

   • Deploy a WAF to detect and block malicious injection attempts.

For cloud-based solutions, Tencent Cloud provides Web Application Firewall (WAF) and Database Security Services to help mitigate injection risks. Additionally, Tencent Cloud’s Database Audit service monitors and alerts on suspicious SQL activities.