Modern applications are built on trust. Trust in open-source libraries, automated updates, CI/CD pipelines, and third-party services. When that trust goes unverified, attackers skip the front door entirely. They compromise the components you already rely on and turn your own software into the delivery mechanism.
OWASP A08:2025 covers weaknesses that let attackers tamper with software supply chains, inject code into build pipelines, and manipulate data flows. The attack does not hit production systems directly. It targets how applications are built, distributed, and maintained. One poisoned dependency can ripple across thousands of applications in hours.
What Is OWASP A08:2025?
This OWASP top 10 2025 category covers vulnerabilities that emerge when software and data are not verified before being trusted or executed. These failures occur when applications run unsigned code, CI/CD pipelines can be tampered with, updates ship without signature validation, deserialized data is trusted without checks, or third-party components are pulled in blindly.
The core problem: once malicious code is inside the trusted environment, it operates with legitimate privileges. Modern software is assembled, not written from scratch. Every dependency, build artifact, and update mechanism is part of the attack surface.
Why Software and Data Integrity Failures Are a Top Risk in OWASP Top 10 2025
The software supply chain is larger and more automated than it has ever been. A single compromised package or container image can propagate across multiple applications, environments, and customers within minutes.
Attackers target upstream systems: source code repositories, build servers, package managers, and update distribution systems. By inserting malicious code earlier in the pipeline, they inherit production-level trust by the time it reaches deployment.
APIs compound the exposure. Modern applications rely on APIs and microservices, each of which may pull external dependencies or process serialized data. Without strict validation, integrity failures spread laterally across the entire architecture.
Automation creates a false sense of security. Developers often assume package registries and container repositories handle integrity automatically. Misconfigurations and weak verification controls say otherwise.
Common Software and Data Integrity Failures in Production
These weaknesses appear consistently across environments.
Compromised third-party dependencies
Applications pull open-source libraries without validating digital signatures, pinning versions, or monitoring for tampering. When a dependency is backdoored, as seen in multiple npm and PyPI supply-chain attacks, malicious logic executes directly within the application, inheriting its privileges and access to data.
Insecure CI/CD pipelines
Build systems often run with excessive permissions and weak access controls. Once attackers compromise a pipeline account, API token, or build server, they can inject malicious code into compiled artifacts before deployment. Because the final binaries are signed and distributed internally, the compromise spreads through trusted release channels.
Unsigned or unverified updates
Auto-update mechanisms that fail to enforce cryptographic signature validation allow attackers to replace legitimate packages with trojanized versions. This turns routine patching into a malware delivery vector, a common tactic in software supply-chain breaches.
Insecure deserialization
When applications deserialize untrusted data without integrity or type validation, attackers can manipulate serialized objects to trigger arbitrary code execution. These vulnerabilities frequently appear in microservices exchanging internal data where traffic is incorrectly assumed to be trusted.
Infrastructure-as-code tampering
Modified Terraform templates, Kubernetes manifests, or container images can quietly introduce backdoors, privileged containers, or exposed services. Because IaC changes are reused across environments, a single poisoned configuration can propagate persistent compromise across production, staging, and disaster recovery systems.
Hardcoded secrets and exposed tokens
Embedding API keys, signing credentials, or pipeline tokens in source code and build scripts allows attackers to extract them from repositories or leaked artifacts. These credentials are then used to push malicious updates, modify storage, or hijack deployment workflows, extending integrity compromise further down the chain.
Unprotected artifact repositories
Package registries and internal image repositories that lack access controls or checksum verification enable attackers to replace legitimate builds with malicious versions. Teams unknowingly pull and deploy poisoned artifacts believing they are trusted releases.
Software Integrity Failures vs. Traditional Vulnerabilities
| Aspect | Software & Data Integrity Failures | Traditional Application Bugs |
|---|---|---|
| Core issue | Trust boundary compromise | Coding logic flaw |
| Entry point | Supply chain, build systems, updates | Application input handling |
| Blast radius | Multi-system, multi-customer impact | Often application-specific |
| Detection difficulty | High, due to trusted execution | Often detectable via scanning |
Integrity failures are dangerous because malicious activity happens within trusted workflows.
Business Impact of Software and Data Integrity Failures
Software and data integrity failures are a multiplier. They do not just “expose” one app. They turn your trusted delivery path into the attack path. If a library, build system, or update channel is poisoned, the blast radius can jump from one environment to thousands in a single release. That is why the fallout is usually bigger than a normal bug: teams have to pause releases, assume secrets were stolen, and re-verify what is “clean” across code, images, configs, and infrastructure.
SolarWinds is a clear example of how ugly this gets. The attacker did not need to break into every customer. They got into the build environment and injected malicious code into Orion builds, which then shipped out as normal updates. SolarWinds later disclosed it spent roughly $18–$19 million in one quarter just on investigation and remediation work tied to the incident. NotPetya shows the operational side when trusted software becomes the distribution vehicle: it spread via a compromised update mechanism for a widely used Ukrainian accounting tool, then knocked over global firms; Maersk estimated a $200–$300 million impact and reported major business interruption.
How Attackers Exploit Integrity Failures
Attackers begin by mapping dependencies and build workflows. They look for weak access controls on source repositories, artifact storage, or container registries.
Next, they attempt to insert malicious components by replacing legitimate packages, publishing typosquatted dependencies, injecting code into CI/CD workflows and tampering with update mechanisms.
Because these components are integrated automatically, malicious code propagates across environments with minimal resistance.
Once deployed, the attacker’s code executes as part of normal application behavior.
How to Reduce Risk from Software and Data Integrity Failures
These failures require enforcing trust verification at every stage of the software delivery lifecycle from source code to deployment and runtime.
Enforce strong code and artifact integrity controls
Digitally sign all software packages, container images, and release artifacts using trusted cryptographic keys. Enforce checksum validation during deployment and block unsigned or altered builds automatically. Pin dependency versions and verify hashes to prevent silent replacement of trusted libraries.
Lock down CI/CD pipelines and build infrastructure
Apply least-privilege access to build systems, repositories, and deployment tools. Enforce multi-factor authentication on developer accounts, pipeline services, and artifact repositories. Continuously monitor pipelines for unauthorized configuration changes, unusual build behavior, and unexpected artifact modifications.
Establish continuous software supply chain visibility with SBOMs
Generate Software Bills of Materials for every release to track all third-party libraries, frameworks, and components in use. Integrate SBOM monitoring with vulnerability intelligence and integrity checks to rapidly identify compromised dependencies, malicious packages, and risky updates.
Strengthen deserialization and data integrity validation
Treat all serialized input, even from internal services as untrusted. Enforce strict schema validation, object whitelisting, and cryptographic integrity checks where applicable. Disable unsafe deserialization features that allow object injection or code execution.
Apply consistent API security and payload verification
Secure APIs with strong authentication, authorization, rate controls, and schema validation. Verify request signatures, tokens, and payload integrity to prevent tampered data from entering trusted workflows. APIs often bridge external services directly into internal pipelines and require the same integrity protections as application code.
Deploy runtime monitoring and exploit containment controls
Assume some level of compromise will occur. Use runtime protection to detect abnormal process behavior, unauthorized code execution, suspicious file modifications, and lateral movement attempts. Rapid containment prevents integrity failures from escalating into full-scale breaches.
Continuously audit and test trust boundaries
Regularly review pipeline permissions, dependency sources, update mechanisms, and artifact repositories. Conduct integrity-focused security testing and supply chain risk assessments to identify weak trust assumptions before attackers exploit them.
Strengthen Runtime Integrity Protection with AppTrana WAAP
Preventive supply-chain controls reduce risk, but they do not eliminate it. Compromised dependencies, misconfigured pipelines, or tampered updates can still reach production before detection. When that happens, the priority shifts to containment.
AppTrana WAAP acts as a runtime security layer that sits between your application and the damage. In practical terms, it converts a potentially large-scale compromise into a contained incident.
Here is what that looks like in practice:
Runtime exploit blocking. If a poisoned dependency attempts remote code execution, command injection, or web shell deployment, AppTrana intercepts and blocks it before it escalates.
API protection. APIs are frequent integrity entry points. AppTrana enforces request validation, authentication, schema inspection, and behavioral monitoring to stop tampered payloads from propagating silently across services.
AI-driven virtual patching. Vulnerable endpoints are shielded immediately while engineering teams investigate. Exploit paths are neutralized in real time without waiting for redeployment cycles.
Client-side protection. Malicious JavaScript injections and compromised third-party scripts are monitored and blocked before they execute in users’ browsers.
Ready to contain integrity failures before they become full-scale breaches?
Start a free AppTrana WAAP trial to block integrity-driven exploits in real time
