A Catalog of Security Vulnerabilities

Vulnerabilities are bad security smells.

Security sensitive functinos are those PHP functions that are targets of various security attacks.

• Common File Name Vulnerability - Using common file names makes your application an easier target for cgi scanners.
• Revealed Source Code Vulnerability - The ability to see application source code can reveal sensitive information or reveal additional insecurities.
• Revealing Error Message Vulnerability - Showing error message details can reveal targets for attack.
• Sensitive Data in Web Root Vulnerability - Private files kept in the public Document Root directory can easily become public files.
• Session File Vulnerability - Sensitive data may be extracted from session files.
• Sensitive Data in Globally Readable File Vulnerability - private information such as database passwords in shared environment.
• Revealing HTML Comment Vulnerability - Information contained in HTML comments may reveal internal application details.
• Web Application Fingerprint Vulnerability - An application specific fingerprint that makes scanning for the application easier.
• PHP Fingerprint Vulnerability - Discovering that an application is written in PHP can suggest specific attacks to use against that application.
• Packet Sniffing Vulnerability - Using the standard HTTP protocol, communication between the client browser and the web server can be “listened in on”, allowing passwords to be captured and so on.

• Global Variable Vulnerability - Uninitialized global variables may be vulnerable to being overwritten.
• Default Password Vulnerability - Default passwords may be well known
• Online Backup Vulnerability - older software versions or backup files available in the web root may be more exploitable.

• See security attacks catalog.
• See web application security.