The OWASP Top 10 is a key document used by application security practitioners. Published by the Open Web Application Security Project, it's a regularly updated list of the most critical security risks to web applications.
The list isn't meant to be comprehensive. There are far more than ten ways to introduce vulnerabilities into an application. Instead, it represents a consensus view of what the security community considers most important to address.
What Makes the List
OWASP compiles the Top 10 from data contributed by security firms, bug bounty programs, and the broader security community. They look at how frequently different vulnerability types appear, how exploitable they are, and how much impact successful exploitation would have.
The 2025 edition includes categories like Broken Access Control, Cryptographic Failures, Injection, Insecure Design, Security Misconfiguration, Vulnerable and Outdated Components, and Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF). The specific items shift between versions as the threat landscape evolves. Broken Access Control has risen to the top position, reflecting its prevalence in modern applications.
Why It Matters
The OWASP Top 10 serves as common ground. When someone says "we need to address OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities," everyone generally understands what that means. It gives security teams and developers a shared vocabulary and prioritization framework.
Many compliance requirements and security standards reference the OWASP Top 10 directly. If your organization needs to demonstrate secure development practices, being able to show that you test for and address these categories is usually a baseline expectation.
Relevance to AI Coding
AI coding agents are fully capable of generating code that violates OWASP Top 10 guidelines. An agent asked to build a login form might create one vulnerable to SQL injection or credential stuffing. An agent implementing file upload might not properly validate file types or paths.
This is one reason why ACSM tools like Corridor include specific guardrails for OWASP Top 10 categories. These are known problem areas where AI-generated code frequently needs guidance.