Secure Design Principles CASENET Practice Questions (Page 9)

Questions 41–45

1. 41application · medium

   A .NET web application is being redesigned. Currently, it exposes several administrative endpoints that are not used by any legitimate feature. The application also has a public search feature that accepts a 'q' parameter and reflects it in the page without encoding. The team wants to reduce the attack surface and address the reflected XSS issue. Which approach best achieves both goals?

   • AKeep the administrative endpoints but add a role check to restrict access.
   • BAdd a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests containing script tags.
   • CDisable the search feature entirely to eliminate the XSS risk.
   • DRemove the unused administrative endpoints and apply HTML encoding to the search parameter before rendering it in the response.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
2. 42application · medium

   A team is starting a threat modeling exercise for a new .NET application. They have limited time and need to focus on the most critical areas. Which approach best aligns with core threat modeling fundamentals?

   • AWait until the application is deployed and then perform penetration testing.
   • BFocus only on external attackers and ignore internal threats to save time.
   • CList all possible threats from a generic checklist without considering the application's architecture.
   • DIdentify the most valuable assets and trace the data flows that interact with them, then apply STRIDE to those flows.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
4. 43foundation · easy

   A .NET web application stores user passwords in plain text in a database. An attacker who gains access to the database can read all passwords. Which STRIDE category best describes this threat?

   • ADenial of Service
   • BSpoofing
   • CTampering
   • DInformation Disclosure
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
5. 44expert · hard

   A .NET application is being developed for a financial institution. The application will be accessed by customers and internal staff. The team is conducting a threat modeling session and has identified the following assets: account balances, transaction history, and customer credentials. They have created a data flow diagram showing the customer portal sending transaction requests to a core banking system, which updates a database. The internal staff portal also accesses the same database. The team has limited time and must prioritize threats. Which threat should be considered the highest priority based on the assets and data flows?

   • AAn attacker could tamper with transaction amounts in the data flow between the customer portal and the core banking system.
   • BA denial-of-service attack on the customer portal could prevent customers from accessing their accounts.
   • CAn attacker could spoof the core banking system and send fake responses to the customer portal.
   • DAn internal staff member could repudiate a transaction they performed.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
6. 45expert · hard

   A .NET application exposes a public API that accepts JSON payloads. The API is used by multiple clients with different trust levels. The team wants to mitigate injection attacks while maintaining performance and usability. Which approach best balances security and functionality?

   • AUse client-side validation only and rely on the database to reject invalid data.
   • BImplement centralized input validation using a whitelist approach for all API parameters, and use parameterized queries for any database access.
   • CDisable all input validation to improve performance and rely on a web application firewall (WAF).
   • DUse a blacklist of known malicious patterns for input validation.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first