CS0-003 Vulnerability Management Practice Question
A security analyst discovers a critical vulnerability in a web application that allows an attacker to trigger server-side requests from the application server. Which OWASP Top 10 category does this vulnerability belong to?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) is a distinct category in OWASP Top 10 (A10:2021).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Broken Access Control
Why it's wrong here
Broken Access Control occurs when an application fails to properly enforce restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do. While SSRF can bypass network-level access controls to reach internal resources, the root vulnerability is not a failure of user privilege authorization or object-level access control on the web application itself. Instead, it is a failure to validate user-supplied destination URIs.
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Security Misconfiguration
Why it's wrong here
Security Misconfiguration refers to improperly hardened servers, default accounts, or overly permissive CORS headers. Although a misconfigured cloud metadata service or local firewall can exacerbate the impact of an SSRF attack, the core vulnerability lies in the application code's handling of external requests, not in system or platform setup errors.
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Injection
Why it's wrong here
Injection vulnerabilities, such as SQLi or Command Injection, involve passing untrusted interpreter commands directly into a parser to execute arbitrary code. In contrast, SSRF involves abusing the server's inherent functionality to make HTTP or network requests to arbitrary destinations, manipulating the target URI rather than injecting executable syntax into a backend interpreter.
- ✓
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
Why this is correct
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) occurs when a web application fetches a remote resource without validating the user-supplied URL. This allows an attacker to coerce the vulnerable server into sending crafted requests to internal-only resources, such as loopback interfaces, local databases, or cloud metadata endpoints (like AWS IMDSv1), effectively bypassing perimeter firewalls.
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Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud Vulnerability Management
Key term
OWASP Top 10
The OWASP Top 10 is a regularly updated list of the most critical security risks to web applications, published by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) to help developers and security professionals prioritize and mitigate common vulnerabilities.
Key term
SSRF
A security vulnerability where an attacker tricks a server into making unauthorized requests to internal or external resources on behalf of the attacker.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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