OWASP Mobile Top 10 (2024 Updated)
As with every technology, the more it is popular, the greater the chances of being found with vulnerabilities and attacked by bad actors. OWASP Mobile Top 10 is an extensive resource that helps security researchers and mobile application developers alike with relevant security data. It contains comprehensive data that helps to detect, assess, and address threats affecting mobile applications based on their degree of risk.
Mobile devices and their related technologies are growing at an exponential rate. All it ever took was a few decades to have such an immense transition from landlines to tiny gadgets with versatile features. Its popularity is primarily due to its easy access and integration of various applications such as communication, entertainment, finance, and healthcare.Â
What is OWASP Mobile Top 10
OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) is a non-profit foundation that supports open-source projects focused on improving software security worldwide.
The OWASP Mobile Top 10 is compiled using risk analysis that considers impact, likelihood of exploitation, remediation difficulty, and prevalence across industries. The data is contributed by security researchers, organizations, and industry experts worldwide based on real-world application testing and threat intelligence.
The OWASP Mobile Top 10 is a list of the biggest security risks that mobile apps face. It’s published by the Open Web Application Security Project, a non-profit foundation dedicated to improving software security worldwide with a mission of developing software security standards. Security experts, researchers, and developers across the globe contribute to this list.
It is updated regularly to stay ahead of evolving threats. Anyone who works on creating or securing mobile apps should have this resource. By understanding what’s listed in this Top 10, developers can take steps to prevent these risks and make their applications more secure.
OWASP goes above and beyond with two extra resources. The first is the OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard (MASVS), which lists security requirements for mobile applications. Following that is the OWASP Mobile Application Security Testing Guide (MASTG) which is a guide to test how secure your application is.
Combined these three resources provide a complete set of guidelines to make mobile applications extremely secure. To simplify the process, developers should begin by following the recommendations outlined in the OWASP Mobile Top 10.
The OWASP Top 10 Mobile Risks
The OWASP Mobile Top 10 provides the most common mobile app security risks in effect. Similar to every other list by OWASP, the Mobile Top 10 risks are identified through risk analysis that considers factors such as impact, likelihood of exploitation, and prevalence across real-world applications. Following is the latest list from OWASP Mobile Top 10 (2024 Final Release).
M1: Improper Credential Usage
Hardcoded credentials are typically found in mobile apps where the application stores sensitive data like API keys or user credentials in the source code or in insecure storage. This increases the risk of decompiling the app and extracting these credentials. This can lead to a security breach, loss of user privacy, and unauthorized access to your sensitive data and systems.
M2: Inadequate Supply Chain Security
Inadequate supply chain security involves vulnerabilities in third-party libraries or dependencies that may be compromised, whether through known exploits, unpatched vulnerabilities, or malicious actors. Proper security measures such as dependency scanning and software composition analysis tools can help mitigate these risks.
M3: Insecure Authentication/Authorization
Without precautions that verify who is using an application or restrict their access to certain data, it makes it easier for someone unauthorized to sneak in. Once unauthorized access is gained, attackers may escalate privileges or access sensitive data depending on the application’s access control mechanisms.
M4: Insufficient Input/Output Validation
Applications must double-check user input before processing. Failing to validate user input gives attackers the ability to slip in code meant to harm other users or manipulate data.
M5: Insecure Communication
Apps that transfer sensitive information over unencrypted channels or use outdated, improperly implemented encryption algorithms, such as weak cipher suites or poor key management, are vulnerable to interception and tampering by attackers. Normally, an adversary listening on the communication channel can intercept and change data delivered in plaintext or using an obsolete encryption scheme as it travels via the internet and the carrier network of the mobile device. Their intentions might vary and include stealing a person’s identity, espionage, unauthorized access to sensitive information, etc.
M6: Inadequate Privacy Controls
This potential risk arises when developers fail to implement strong systems to protect user data privacy, leading to a variety of privacy breaches. Inadequate security measures in mobile applications pose major dangers to user data, potentially disclosing sensitive information and compromising trust among users.
M7: Insufficient Binary Protections
Since software binaries are usually available from app stores or duplicated from mobile devices. Binary attacks are feasible due to easy access to application binaries, but exploiting them typically requires reverse engineering skills and specialized tools. The binaries might include important information, such as private API keys or encoded cryptographic secrets, which an attacker could exploit.
Reconfiguring the payment IDs in an application, repacking it, and distributing it through app stores is a classic form of attack. The attacker can modify payment flows or monetization logic, allowing them to redirect revenue or transactions away from the legitimate developer.
M8: Security Misconfiguration
It refers to wrongly set security configurations, permissions, and controls, which are vulnerable and susceptible to unauthorized access. Attackers who could take advantage of security flaws are able to utilize sensitive data to perform malicious actions.Â
M9: Insecure Data Storage
Insecure data storage can involve storing sensitive data in unprotected locations like local databases, shared preferences, or file systems without encryption. These weak storage practices increase the risk of data leakage or theft, especially if the device is compromised. The main reason for this vulnerability is the storage of privileged data in plain text format in insecure file locations.Â
M10: Insufficient Cryptography
Insufficient cryptography can result from using weak or deprecated algorithms, improper key management practices, or insecure encryption modes. These flaws can lead to attackers decrypting sensitive data, performing cryptographic attacks, or gaining unauthorized access.
Also Read : OWASP Top 10
Why Securing Mobile Apps Matters
Understanding the OWASP Mobile Top 10 highlights why mobile application security is essential. Therefore, mobile app security is a necessity, not an option. Mobile applications should be designed to manage sensitive data regularly; it could be your banking credentials, health records, or even your social insurance number. A lapse in the security of these apps could lead your data to land in the wrong hands and wreak havoc with unprecedented implications.Â
But there’s more than just worrying about your data; it’s your privacy too. An application can’t just sever its ties after handling our sensitive data recklessly. That trust which progressively disappeared won’t spring back to life overnight; it needs work. The procedure of securing your mobile application is beneficial double-fold; you are protecting your vested interests and your user base. Also, remember that fortifying your app only works to add to your favorable position in the market competition.
Impact of Security Risks on Mobile ApplicationsÂ
As with any vulnerabilities, those infecting mobile applications also have a huge impact on the organization and user horizons. From a business perspective, it includes reputational damages, identity fraud, data breaches, and disruptions of business operations.Â
For an attacker, all it ever wants is merely a single-minute vulnerability with which they elevate it to higher levels, leading to catastrophes. For a user, it is the loss of the data that they shared with your business and ended up in malicious hands. This ends up in a loss of trust in the business collectively leading to financial loss due to profit decline and expenses to remediate the incident.Â
Also, many of the countries and regions have strict information security-related policies and laws. While doing business in these regions, it is by default expected to ensure resilience. Along with other losses, a breach also causes regulatory fines, which costs nothing less than a huge amount of money.
Steps to securing your mobile apps way ahead
Secure mobile applications are something every user expects in the cyber-vigilant era of the technological landscape. And the need for effective mobile app penetration testing, you need a greater partner in security which is capable of providing you nothing less than the best. Wattlecorp always follows the OWASP Mobile Top 10 vulnerabilities in each respective year and helps you to experience how the expertise helps your application to ensure cyber resilience with our team of seasoned security professionals.
DPDP Act vs GDPR: Key Differences Every CTO in India Must Know
Key Takeaways: GDPR compliance provides a baseline, but DPDP introduces India-specific obligations that require additional operational and technical implementation. Simplified notices, grievance redressal, and children’s data controls are India-specific obligations that most GDPR programs simply do not cover. The DPDP Act and GDPR are built differently and the GDPR gives organizations six legal grounds to […]
AI-Powered Cyberattacks in India 2026: What CISOs Need to Know Now
Key Takeaways: Generative AI has sharply accelerated the attacker’s advantage by making phishing, reconnaissance, and exploit preparation faster and easier to scale. Being a CISO in 2026 means making real-time threat decisions at board level, that’s a different job from what most security leaders are trained for, and the skill gap is already showing. CERT-In’s […]
ISO 27001 Internal Audit for Saudi Companies: Preparing Evidence Before CertificationÂ
Key Takeaways: An ISO 27001 internal audit helps Saudi companies validate whether their Information Security Management System is implemented, not just documented. Certification auditors do not only review policies. They check risk registers, control ownership, access reviews, incident records, supplier reviews, audit trails, management review minutes, and corrective action evidence. For Saudi companies, ISO 27001 […]
Proactive Threat Hunting for UAE Enterprises: Finding Attackers Before They StrikeÂ
Key Takeaways: Proactive threat hunting is not the same as traditional monitoring. Monitoring waits for the alerts, while threat hunting actively searches for signs of attacker behaviour that may not trigger automated detection. For UAE enterprises, threat hunting is becoming more important because attacks are shifting from simple malware to credential abuse, ransomware preparation, cloud […]
CERT-IN Empanelled VAPT: Why Indian Companies Should Choose CERT-IN Approved Firms in 2026
Key Takeaways: Running a VAPT with a CERT-In empanelled firm means your security testing is backed by a standard that regulators and enterprise clients in India actually recognize, not just a vendor promise. When sensitive data and critical systems are involved, a CERT-In empanelled VAPT provider gives Indian companies compliance readiness they can demonstrate, not […]
SOC 2 Type I vs Type II Timeline: How Long UAE Companies Actually Need
Key Takeaways: SOC 2 Type I vs Type II timelines differ and it is mostly based on audit depth. Type I checks if controls are well-designed at a given point in time. Type II goes a step further and it proves those controls worked consistently over a defined period. For UAE SaaS companies, Type I […]
