SQL Injection — Still #1
Despite being a 25-year-old vulnerability, SQL injection remains the most exploited web security flaw. For PHP/Laravel: use Eloquent ORM or PDO prepared statements exclusively — never concatenate user input into SQL queries. For Node.js: use parameterized queries with pg or mysql2 libraries.
XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)
XSS attacks inject malicious scripts into pages viewed by other users. Prevention: escape all user-generated output (htmlspecialchars() in PHP, DOMPurify for client-side), implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers, and use template engines that auto-escape by default.
Authentication Weaknesses
Common auth failures: weak password policies, no rate limiting on login (brute force risk), JWT tokens without expiry, and session fixation. Fix: enforce bcrypt hashing (cost factor 12+), implement account lockout after 5 failed attempts, use short JWT expiry with refresh tokens.
CSRF Protection
Cross-Site Request Forgery tricks authenticated users into performing unintended actions. Laravel includes CSRF protection by default. For custom PHP: generate and validate CSRF tokens for all state-changing requests. For SPAs: use SameSite=Strict cookies and verify Origin headers.
Security Headers
Implement these HTTP response headers on every application: X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff, X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN, Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000, Content-Security-Policy (tailored to your app), and Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin.
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