Attack Surface Analysis Cheat Sheet is about application attack surface analysis, its purpose is to help developers better understand the application and improve the management effectiveness of the application when designing and updating the application. Once developers have a high risk map of attack surface, they can more easily know which parts of the system need auditing more frequently and which areas need improvement to reduce security vulnerabilities. Attack surface analysis can help auditors identify where applications have security vulnerabilities, identify high-risk code areas, and assess threats.
The document is a cheat sheet for attack surface analysis. What it is and why its important, how to define, identify, map out and manage/ assess the attack surface. The focus is protecting applications from external attacks. Users and operators of the system are not considered. There is less focus on internal threats. Attack surface analysis is about mapping out what part of a system needs to be reviewed and tested for security vulnerabilities. The attack surface is the sum of all paths, the code that protects them, the data used in the application and the code that protects the data such as encryption. In this process, you need to build a baseline description of the surface attack and identify the important data. Make sure that data is backed up, protecting your backups are key.
Attack surface analysis is an assessment of the total number of exploitable vulnerabilities in a system or network or other potential computer attack target. The point of Attack Surface Analysis is to understand the risk areas in an application, to make developers and security specialists aware of what parts of the application are open to attack, to find ways of minimizing this, and to notice when and how the Attack Surface changes and what this means from a risk perspective. Attack Surface Analysis is usually done by security architects and pen testers. These different types of attack surfaces pose very different types of threats. Usually, the analysis of a target’s vulnerabilities focuses on exposed functions of incoming and outgoing code (the software attack surface). With the majority of attacks coming from the web, network attack surface is a very important consideration because it is the most common path to the software attack surface.
I thought the reference to Agile methodologies was interesting as this provides a framework for teams to inspect and adapt to new challenges. For example, a team may need to pivot to address a new vulnerability in a dependency which takes them away from other work. Close alignment between security and development teams allows for the exchange of this information which can then be incorporated into the upcoming sprint.
Regardless of the development methodology used, it’s important to manage the application’s attack surface by incrementally identifying risks as changes are made. Each change, e.g. an addition of a web page, affects the risk profile and must be considered in conjunction with the value it delivers from a product perspective. Generally the attack surface increases with application complexity unless there is a concerted effort to harden the application by turning off unused features and deploying operational controls, e.g. WAFs.
Accurately identifying and mapping your attack surface is a critical component of the web application development process. If not done correctly, there could be a number of critical vulnerabilities that your application could be vulnerable to. It’s important to identify and map the attack surface during implementation, which is done through interviewing developers, walking through and testing the applications functional components, and identifying critical data points. However, it’s even more important to periodically reassess the application components and its attack surface post implementation as changes to the application will occur over time and further security updates will likely be required.
Key part of this reading for me was Defining the Attack Surface of an Application
The Attack Surface describes all of the different points where an attacker could get into a system, and where they could get data out.
The Attack Surface of an application is: the sum of all paths for data/commands into and out of the application, and the code that protects these paths (including resource connection and authentication, authorization, activity logging, data validation and encoding) all valuable data used in the application, including secrets and keys, intellectual property, critical business data, personal data and PII, and the code that protects these data (including encryption and checksums, access auditing, and data integrity and operational security controls).
This is crucial because in order to protect the application one must be familiar with the attack surface
You are correct in that the attack surface must be defined in order to protect the application. The first step in protecting a system is identifying the places in which it may be weak so they can be addressed. Defining the attack surface allows us to do this by outlining all the places an attacker can exploit in a system. Getting this step right is crucial because if an attack vector has been missed then it most likely will not be safeguarded properly and can lead to an increased risk of exploitation.
The main point is centered about understanding the risk areas in an application and to find ways to minimize this. Attack Surface Analysis helps to identify what functions and what parts of the system you need to review/test for security vulnerabilities and to identify high risk areas of code that require defense-in-depth protection – what parts of the system that you need to defend and also to identify when you have changed the attack surface and need to do some kind of threat assessment.
This kind of threat or risk assessment is required to be done periodically, or as a part of design work in serial / phased / spiral / waterfall development projects, or continuously and incrementally in Agile / iterative development.
This cheat sheet is helpful in breaking down the importance of an attack surface analysis and the basic steps to do so. I think the last section about managing the attack surface was informative. It is important to ensure that you are incrementally changing and adjusting the management of your risks as they evolve over time. Once an attack surface analysis is made it is a static snapshot in time, so it needs to be adjusted accordingly when there are changes. The way to do that are by reviewing incrementally and asking the questions the article has identified (What has changed? What are you doing different? What holes could you have opened?). An attack surface will normally increase over time as more is added on to your system. Periodical review of this analysis is important to keeping the risk profile up to date and making sure the correct safeguards are in place for the best protection.
I agree that the attack surface analysis is something that should be adjusted over time as changes are made, failing to do this will surely cause issues in the future
Attack surface analysis is an organized, manageable way to identify, analyze, and reduce or compensate for existing vulnerabilities in an application. Steps in this analysis include: identifying and mapping the attack surface, measuring and assessing the attack surface, and managing the attack surface. The number of potential vulnerabilities in an application can make identifying and mapping the attack surface seem like a daunting task but this document breaks this section down into smaller segments and includes useful tips. For example, the document provides sample function, design, and technology categories for organizing your potentially long list of attack points. Additionally, there are links to vulnerability scanning tools that you could use to identify vulnerabilities more quickly.
Attack surface analysis gives a brief idea for a developer to understand and manage developing application security based on application security risk and challenges. It is also useful for security specialists in the risk assessment process. Attack surface analysis focuses on protecting an application against external attack possibilities such as malware, social engineering attack, SQL injection attack, etc. It’s low in focus for the insider attacks. Attack surface analysis is very useful for identifying vulnerability, threat risk, risk areas in application to make developer and security expert understand what the actual point of attack is and minimizes it before the incident occurs.
It helps in identifying functions on what part of the system need a test for security, identifying the high-risk area, identifying when you have to change the attack surface, it very clearly presents the attack surface of application such as valuable data use in an application, command into and out of the applications, the code protect the path and code protect the data. This gives the idea of different types of users, roles, privilege levels that can access the system.
The Attack Surface Cheat Sheet is used to help understand the risk areas in an application and make people aware of what parts of the application are open to attack. The sheet is meant to identify what functions and what parts of the system you need to test for security vulnerabilities, identify high risk areas of code that require protection, and identify when you have changed the attack surface and need to do some kind of threat assessment. It’s important to be aware of the attack surface cheat sheet because it is meant to only benefit you in your mission to protect your applications.
I noticed that this documentation is very similar to the NIST Risk Management Framework. As the stages are Identify, Plan, Implement, Migrate, and Test. With the last stage encouraging the Application Security Verification Standard depending on the application risk level. In comparison, Risk Management Framework steps are categorize, select, implement, assess, authorize, and then continuous monitoring. Where the two differ is that RMF tends to focus more on authorization while this document does not necessarily require any authorization of any sort from a Security Control Assessor. Both take steps to identify, plan, and implement security during at some phase of their process. And both focus on continuous monitoring after everything is developed. Even though NIST Risk Management Framework is oriented towards Information Systems, while AppSec is oriented towards application development – both are applied with similar philosophies.
To improve application security, the developers should understand and manage application security risks in their application designs and updates. To help the developers and also application security specialists, OWASP provides Attack Surface Analysis Cheat Sheet to guide developers and application security specialists how to review and test for security vulnerabilities. Moreover, this analysis cheat sheet will focus on external attack, not include users and operators of the systems.
In this article, I noticed mention of vulnerability scanning tools and services as a way to identify and map OWASP attack surfaces that are accessible over the web. While I acknowledge that vulnerability scanners offer fast results, constant monitoring, are repeatable, and user-friendly, I am afraid that companies are becoming too dependent on IT systems. In reality, the attack surface analysis described in the reading used said tool as just one part of a step in the process. However, that can not replace the reading of code, interviewing of developers, and actual human analysis of the attack surface. Not to mention, there are draw-backs to this approach considering you need to ensure the tool is continually updated, it can result in both false positives and negatives, and it could potentially miss vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers.
This article is used by developers, security specialists to address risks related to web applications. It’s a sheet designed to understand and manage risks associated to applications to find new ways of protecting the system against external attacks.
Attack surface cheat sheet focuses on all functions but especially functions that require more attention because of their sensitivity and other part of the system you need to review for security vulnerabilities.
It identifies high risks of the system you need to defend and identify when you have changed something in the attack surface and need to do some kind of threat assessment.
I agree in that I believe that the attack sheet puts an emphasis on functions that require more attention due to their sensitivity. The cheat sheet also makes people aware of what parts of the application are open to attack. It’s important to be aware of the attack surface cheat sheet because it is meant to only benefit you in your mission to protect your applications.
This article provides a cheat sheet on how to perform an attack surface analysis. Attack surface analysis is the process of mapping out the parts of a system that need to be reviewed/tested for security vulnerabilities. The purpose of this is to understand risk areas, provide awareness on areas open to potential attacks & minimizing the vulnerability, & what attack surface changes mean from a risk perspective. I found the section on defining the actual attack surface of an application to be interesting, as they are essentially the major points an attacker can access a system & retrieve its data. According to the article, an application’s attack surface is the sum of all paths for data/commands into/out of the application, the code that protects these paths, all valuable data used within the application, & the code that protects the data.
Cheatsheet explains the purpose and the steps of attack surface analysis used by pen testers, security architectures, and developers. The analysis aims to manage application security risks by assessing the risks and mapping objectives to review and test as vulnerabilities change. Some key takeaways from the reading:
1. Keep the focus on the external attack as internal attack risk remains.
2. As more users and access points increase the complexity, spend more time analyzing unauthorized or highly privileged user types.
3. Group attack points as their purpose, implementation, and design technology. Functions and designs should be viewed to decide on points of entry. Remote entry points are more likely to be exposed.
4. Objectives: paths/commands into-out of application, code that protects paths, valuable data and code protects the data. It is important to have risk levels and categorize data!
5. Controls include: compensating, operational, intrusion detection, and prevention systems.
Tools mentioned on the cheat sheet:
– OWASP: dynamic testing and vulnerability scanning tool
-RSQ: provides an overall score for the attack surface as changes are made throughout the process
This document outlines attack surface analysis, and why it is imperative to implement and understand. Honestly, it is an overwhelming amount of information to take in. I like the way it is outlined and the insight I gained on what it helps do! It helps us identify what functions and what parts of the system you need to review/test for security vulnerabilities. It identifies high risk areas of code that require defense-in-depth protection. & it also identifies when you have changed the attack surface and need to do some kind of threat assessment.
Moreover, this document details the following:
– Defining the Attack Surface of an Application
– Identifying and Mapping the Attack Surface
– Measuring and Assessing the Attack Surface
– Managing the Attack Surface
Yangyuan Lin says
Attack Surface Analysis Cheat Sheet is about application attack surface analysis, its purpose is to help developers better understand the application and improve the management effectiveness of the application when designing and updating the application. Once developers have a high risk map of attack surface, they can more easily know which parts of the system need auditing more frequently and which areas need improvement to reduce security vulnerabilities. Attack surface analysis can help auditors identify where applications have security vulnerabilities, identify high-risk code areas, and assess threats.
Corey Arana says
The document is a cheat sheet for attack surface analysis. What it is and why its important, how to define, identify, map out and manage/ assess the attack surface. The focus is protecting applications from external attacks. Users and operators of the system are not considered. There is less focus on internal threats. Attack surface analysis is about mapping out what part of a system needs to be reviewed and tested for security vulnerabilities. The attack surface is the sum of all paths, the code that protects them, the data used in the application and the code that protects the data such as encryption. In this process, you need to build a baseline description of the surface attack and identify the important data. Make sure that data is backed up, protecting your backups are key.
Shubham Patil says
Attack surface analysis is an assessment of the total number of exploitable vulnerabilities in a system or network or other potential computer attack target. The point of Attack Surface Analysis is to understand the risk areas in an application, to make developers and security specialists aware of what parts of the application are open to attack, to find ways of minimizing this, and to notice when and how the Attack Surface changes and what this means from a risk perspective. Attack Surface Analysis is usually done by security architects and pen testers. These different types of attack surfaces pose very different types of threats. Usually, the analysis of a target’s vulnerabilities focuses on exposed functions of incoming and outgoing code (the software attack surface). With the majority of attacks coming from the web, network attack surface is a very important consideration because it is the most common path to the software attack surface.
Matthew Bryan says
I thought the reference to Agile methodologies was interesting as this provides a framework for teams to inspect and adapt to new challenges. For example, a team may need to pivot to address a new vulnerability in a dependency which takes them away from other work. Close alignment between security and development teams allows for the exchange of this information which can then be incorporated into the upcoming sprint.
Regardless of the development methodology used, it’s important to manage the application’s attack surface by incrementally identifying risks as changes are made. Each change, e.g. an addition of a web page, affects the risk profile and must be considered in conjunction with the value it delivers from a product perspective. Generally the attack surface increases with application complexity unless there is a concerted effort to harden the application by turning off unused features and deploying operational controls, e.g. WAFs.
Bryan Garrahan says
Accurately identifying and mapping your attack surface is a critical component of the web application development process. If not done correctly, there could be a number of critical vulnerabilities that your application could be vulnerable to. It’s important to identify and map the attack surface during implementation, which is done through interviewing developers, walking through and testing the applications functional components, and identifying critical data points. However, it’s even more important to periodically reassess the application components and its attack surface post implementation as changes to the application will occur over time and further security updates will likely be required.
Jason Burwell says
Key part of this reading for me was Defining the Attack Surface of an Application
The Attack Surface describes all of the different points where an attacker could get into a system, and where they could get data out.
The Attack Surface of an application is: the sum of all paths for data/commands into and out of the application, and the code that protects these paths (including resource connection and authentication, authorization, activity logging, data validation and encoding) all valuable data used in the application, including secrets and keys, intellectual property, critical business data, personal data and PII, and the code that protects these data (including encryption and checksums, access auditing, and data integrity and operational security controls).
This is crucial because in order to protect the application one must be familiar with the attack surface
Ryan Trapp says
Hi Jason,
You are correct in that the attack surface must be defined in order to protect the application. The first step in protecting a system is identifying the places in which it may be weak so they can be addressed. Defining the attack surface allows us to do this by outlining all the places an attacker can exploit in a system. Getting this step right is crucial because if an attack vector has been missed then it most likely will not be safeguarded properly and can lead to an increased risk of exploitation.
Oluwaseun Soyomokun says
The main point is centered about understanding the risk areas in an application and to find ways to minimize this. Attack Surface Analysis helps to identify what functions and what parts of the system you need to review/test for security vulnerabilities and to identify high risk areas of code that require defense-in-depth protection – what parts of the system that you need to defend and also to identify when you have changed the attack surface and need to do some kind of threat assessment.
This kind of threat or risk assessment is required to be done periodically, or as a part of design work in serial / phased / spiral / waterfall development projects, or continuously and incrementally in Agile / iterative development.
Ryan Trapp says
This cheat sheet is helpful in breaking down the importance of an attack surface analysis and the basic steps to do so. I think the last section about managing the attack surface was informative. It is important to ensure that you are incrementally changing and adjusting the management of your risks as they evolve over time. Once an attack surface analysis is made it is a static snapshot in time, so it needs to be adjusted accordingly when there are changes. The way to do that are by reviewing incrementally and asking the questions the article has identified (What has changed? What are you doing different? What holes could you have opened?). An attack surface will normally increase over time as more is added on to your system. Periodical review of this analysis is important to keeping the risk profile up to date and making sure the correct safeguards are in place for the best protection.
Jason Burwell says
Hello Ryan,
I agree that the attack surface analysis is something that should be adjusted over time as changes are made, failing to do this will surely cause issues in the future
Amelia Safirstein says
Attack surface analysis is an organized, manageable way to identify, analyze, and reduce or compensate for existing vulnerabilities in an application. Steps in this analysis include: identifying and mapping the attack surface, measuring and assessing the attack surface, and managing the attack surface. The number of potential vulnerabilities in an application can make identifying and mapping the attack surface seem like a daunting task but this document breaks this section down into smaller segments and includes useful tips. For example, the document provides sample function, design, and technology categories for organizing your potentially long list of attack points. Additionally, there are links to vulnerability scanning tools that you could use to identify vulnerabilities more quickly.
Mohammed Syed says
Attack surface analysis gives a brief idea for a developer to understand and manage developing application security based on application security risk and challenges. It is also useful for security specialists in the risk assessment process. Attack surface analysis focuses on protecting an application against external attack possibilities such as malware, social engineering attack, SQL injection attack, etc. It’s low in focus for the insider attacks. Attack surface analysis is very useful for identifying vulnerability, threat risk, risk areas in application to make developer and security expert understand what the actual point of attack is and minimizes it before the incident occurs.
It helps in identifying functions on what part of the system need a test for security, identifying the high-risk area, identifying when you have to change the attack surface, it very clearly presents the attack surface of application such as valuable data use in an application, command into and out of the applications, the code protect the path and code protect the data. This gives the idea of different types of users, roles, privilege levels that can access the system.
Michael Galdo says
The Attack Surface Cheat Sheet is used to help understand the risk areas in an application and make people aware of what parts of the application are open to attack. The sheet is meant to identify what functions and what parts of the system you need to test for security vulnerabilities, identify high risk areas of code that require protection, and identify when you have changed the attack surface and need to do some kind of threat assessment. It’s important to be aware of the attack surface cheat sheet because it is meant to only benefit you in your mission to protect your applications.
Michael Duffy says
I noticed that this documentation is very similar to the NIST Risk Management Framework. As the stages are Identify, Plan, Implement, Migrate, and Test. With the last stage encouraging the Application Security Verification Standard depending on the application risk level. In comparison, Risk Management Framework steps are categorize, select, implement, assess, authorize, and then continuous monitoring. Where the two differ is that RMF tends to focus more on authorization while this document does not necessarily require any authorization of any sort from a Security Control Assessor. Both take steps to identify, plan, and implement security during at some phase of their process. And both focus on continuous monitoring after everything is developed. Even though NIST Risk Management Framework is oriented towards Information Systems, while AppSec is oriented towards application development – both are applied with similar philosophies.
Hang Nu Song Nguyen says
To improve application security, the developers should understand and manage application security risks in their application designs and updates. To help the developers and also application security specialists, OWASP provides Attack Surface Analysis Cheat Sheet to guide developers and application security specialists how to review and test for security vulnerabilities. Moreover, this analysis cheat sheet will focus on external attack, not include users and operators of the systems.
Elizabeth Gutierrez says
In this article, I noticed mention of vulnerability scanning tools and services as a way to identify and map OWASP attack surfaces that are accessible over the web. While I acknowledge that vulnerability scanners offer fast results, constant monitoring, are repeatable, and user-friendly, I am afraid that companies are becoming too dependent on IT systems. In reality, the attack surface analysis described in the reading used said tool as just one part of a step in the process. However, that can not replace the reading of code, interviewing of developers, and actual human analysis of the attack surface. Not to mention, there are draw-backs to this approach considering you need to ensure the tool is continually updated, it can result in both false positives and negatives, and it could potentially miss vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers.
Ornella Rhyne says
This article is used by developers, security specialists to address risks related to web applications. It’s a sheet designed to understand and manage risks associated to applications to find new ways of protecting the system against external attacks.
Attack surface cheat sheet focuses on all functions but especially functions that require more attention because of their sensitivity and other part of the system you need to review for security vulnerabilities.
It identifies high risks of the system you need to defend and identify when you have changed something in the attack surface and need to do some kind of threat assessment.
Michael Galdo says
Hi Ornella,
I agree in that I believe that the attack sheet puts an emphasis on functions that require more attention due to their sensitivity. The cheat sheet also makes people aware of what parts of the application are open to attack. It’s important to be aware of the attack surface cheat sheet because it is meant to only benefit you in your mission to protect your applications.
Alexander William Knoll says
This article provides a cheat sheet on how to perform an attack surface analysis. Attack surface analysis is the process of mapping out the parts of a system that need to be reviewed/tested for security vulnerabilities. The purpose of this is to understand risk areas, provide awareness on areas open to potential attacks & minimizing the vulnerability, & what attack surface changes mean from a risk perspective. I found the section on defining the actual attack surface of an application to be interesting, as they are essentially the major points an attacker can access a system & retrieve its data. According to the article, an application’s attack surface is the sum of all paths for data/commands into/out of the application, the code that protects these paths, all valuable data used within the application, & the code that protects the data.
Miray Bolukbasi says
Cheatsheet explains the purpose and the steps of attack surface analysis used by pen testers, security architectures, and developers. The analysis aims to manage application security risks by assessing the risks and mapping objectives to review and test as vulnerabilities change. Some key takeaways from the reading:
1. Keep the focus on the external attack as internal attack risk remains.
2. As more users and access points increase the complexity, spend more time analyzing unauthorized or highly privileged user types.
3. Group attack points as their purpose, implementation, and design technology. Functions and designs should be viewed to decide on points of entry. Remote entry points are more likely to be exposed.
4. Objectives: paths/commands into-out of application, code that protects paths, valuable data and code protects the data. It is important to have risk levels and categorize data!
5. Controls include: compensating, operational, intrusion detection, and prevention systems.
Tools mentioned on the cheat sheet:
– OWASP: dynamic testing and vulnerability scanning tool
-RSQ: provides an overall score for the attack surface as changes are made throughout the process
Joshua Moses says
This document outlines attack surface analysis, and why it is imperative to implement and understand. Honestly, it is an overwhelming amount of information to take in. I like the way it is outlined and the insight I gained on what it helps do! It helps us identify what functions and what parts of the system you need to review/test for security vulnerabilities. It identifies high risk areas of code that require defense-in-depth protection. & it also identifies when you have changed the attack surface and need to do some kind of threat assessment.
Moreover, this document details the following:
– Defining the Attack Surface of an Application
– Identifying and Mapping the Attack Surface
– Measuring and Assessing the Attack Surface
– Managing the Attack Surface