Top 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors

The MITRE Corporation hosts an excellent document, entitled 2009 CWE/SANS Top 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors, of what they, in collaboration with other organizations in the US and Europe (e.g. SANS Institute, and sponsored by National Cyber Security Division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security), consider to be the top most dangerous programming errors.

Here's snapshot of its contents:

• Improper Input Validation
• Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output
• Failure to Preserve SQL Query Structure ('SQL Injection')
• Failure to Preserve Web Page Structure ('Cross-site Scripting')
• Failure to Preserve OS Command Structure ('OS Command Injection')
• Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information
• Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
• Race Condition
• Error Message Information Leak
• Failure to Constrain Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
• External Control of Critical State Data
• External Control of File Name or Path
• Untrusted Search Path
• Failure to Control Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
• Download of Code Without Integrity Check
• Improper Resource Shutdown or Release
• Improper Initialization
• Incorrect Calculation
• Improper Access Control (Authorization)
• Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm
• Hard-Coded Password
• Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource
• Use of Insufficiently Random Values
• Execution with Unnecessary Privileges
• Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security