Mobile apps now handle everything from banking transactions, healthcare records, and our social lives, making them prime targets for malicious hackers.
Yet mobile security often lags behind web application security, leaving organizations exposed in ways they may not even realize.
The OWASP Mobile Top 10 identifies the most critical security risks facing mobile applications today, offering development and security teams a shared framework for understanding where their apps are most vulnerable. Below, we break down each of the ten risks, how attackers exploit them, what causes them, and the concrete steps you can take to mitigate them.
This vulnerability occurs when attackers can use mishandled credentials to gain access to unauthorized functionality on target apps. For instance, an attacker might discover credentials by finding them in mobile app source code, intercepting them during transmissions between the app and its backend server-side infrastructure, or gaining physical access to a stolen device and extracting insecurely stored credentials. This can expose apps to data breaches, compromise of user privacy, fraud, and takeover of administrative functionality.
The threat of improper credential usage typically arises when credentials are hardcoded into app code or configuration files or when credentials are transmitted or stored insecurely. This risk can be avoided by:
This risk stems from attacker's exploitation of insecurities in third-party libraries, software development kits, or APIs supplying app code or in vendor tools and processes. For example, an attacker might insert malicious code into a file with a name resembling a popular software package and upload it into a code repository in order to deceive developers into downloading it. Likewise, a developer might download software containing poor coding that leaves it susceptible to exploitation.
Inadequate supply chain security risks usually emerge from using insecure code repositories, following lax coding security practices during development, or failing to vet software vendors. Supply chain risks can be mitigated by:
This risk represents vulnerability to attackers exploiting weak app authentication and authorization processes. For example, if an app does not verify that service requests from backend services are coming from known users, a hacker might submit a backend request and anonymously trigger functionality that affects authentic users. Alternately, hackers might bypass weak authentication controls to log in as legitimate users and then force-browse to discover hidden resources and access restricted functionality. These exploits usually are executed through mobile malware on devices or on botnets. This can result in access to escalated privileges, data theft, fraud, and reputation damage.
Insecure authentication and authorization risks reflect weak authentication patterns and inadequate reinforcement of security checks. This can be corrected by taking steps such as:
This threat arises when external sources such as user inputs or network data can introduce unvalidated or unsanitized data. For example, an attacker might input a malicious command, create user-generated output that steals other users’ session cookies, or use malicious app output to hjjack a device and steal data. This vulnerability can allow unauthorized code execution, data breaches, system disruptions, and compromise of data integrity.
This category of risk stems from poor input and output validation practices, failure to apply context-specific validation, lack of data integrity checks, and insecure coding. Mitigation steps include:
This risk occurs when hackers intercept data transmitted between devices and remote servers via carrier networks and the Internet. For example, if an app fails to inspect a certificate offered by a server, hackers may be able to intercept communications through a TLS proxy server. Insecure communications allow eavesdroppers to intercept and modify data, which can enable data theft and identity theft and set the stage for further attacks.
Insecure communication risks can emerge from shared networks, rogue carriers or network devices, or malware. Mitigation steps include:
Poor privacy controls allow attackers to access personally identifiable information (PII) such as contact information, email and IP addresses, credit card data, or healthcare data. For example, unsanitized logs and error messages may reveal PII through publicly exposed files visible to users or platform providers. Attackers can use this type of data to impersonate users, perpetrate fraud, misuse payment data, or extort data owners.
Privacy controls can be strengthened through steps such as:
This risk arises from inadequate protection of compiled code. For example, if a subscription-based app uses insufficiently secured app binaries containing hardcoded API keys, hackers could steal or sell the keys to bypass or intercept subscription fees. This vulnerability can cause financial loss, intellectual property theft, and reputational damage.
Binary protection compromise may reflect neglected obfuscation of sensitive data, failure to run integrity checks, lack of jailbreak detection, publication of apps in debugging mode, or reliance on client-side logic for security decisions. To mitigate this risk:
This vulnerability results from improper configuration of security settings, permissions, or controls. For example, an app with insecure default settings can allow attackers to exploit insecure features to gain access to sensitive data or unauthorized functionality. Leaving this risk unfixed can result in data breaches, financial loss, regulatory fines, or reputation damage.
Security misconfigurations usually reflect insecure coding and configuration practices. Avoid this risk by:
This vulnerability involves failing to secure data at rest or in transit to storage. For example, storing passwords in plaintext in a local file can allow attackers who gain access to a device to retrieve them. Exploitations of this vulnerability can put organizations at risk of data breaches, user account compromise, data tampering, and compliance violations.
Insecure data storage exposure may result from weak encryption, poor data protection and data storage mechanisms, and mishandling of user credentials. Data storage vulnerabilities can be mitigated by steps such as:
This vulnerability enables hackers to exploit insecure encryption and hash functions. For example, if an app uses an outdated encryption algorithm with known weaknesses, a man-in-the-middle attacker who has intercepted a transmission can decode encrypted data and modify it before it arrives at its destination. This vulnerability can trigger data breaches, intellectual property theft, financial losses, and compliance fines.
Insufficient cryptography risks typically stem from poor encryption or insecure hash functions. To mitigate vulnerability, take steps such as:
The OWASP Mobile Top 10 isn't a checklist to complete once and file away. Many of these vulnerabilities share common roots: insecure coding practices, weak encryption, and misplaced trust in client-side controls. That means addressing them requires more than patching individual issues; it demands building security into how your teams design, develop, and ship mobile apps.
Regular pentesting plays a critical role here, surfacing the vulnerabilities that slip past code reviews and automated scans before attackers find them first. Start by assessing your mobile apps against these ten risks, prioritize the gaps that expose your most sensitive data, and make security testing a continuous practice rather than a pre-launch formality.