Develop Misuse and Abuse CSSLP Practice Questions (Page 1)

Questions 1–5

1. 1application · medium

   A financial application allows users to initiate wire transfers. The threat modeling session identified a misuse case: an authenticated user could submit a transfer request and then rapidly submit the same request multiple times before the first transaction completes, causing duplicate transfers. Which mitigating control directly addresses this specific abuse case?

   • AAdd a CAPTCHA to the transfer confirmation page.
   • BRequire the user to re-enter their password for every transfer.
   • CImplement an idempotency key on the transfer endpoint so duplicate requests with the same key are rejected.
   • DLog all transfer requests to an audit trail for later review.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
2. 2expert · hard

   A multi-tenant SaaS platform allows tenants to define custom email templates. The threat model identified a misuse case where a tenant injects malicious JavaScript into a template, which is then rendered in the admin panel of other tenants, causing stored XSS. The team must choose a control that prevents the XSS while still allowing tenants to use basic HTML formatting. Which control is most appropriate?

   • ARender the template in an iframe with the sandbox attribute.
   • BUse a Content Security Policy (CSP) that disallows inline scripts.
   • CEscape all HTML characters in the template before rendering.
   • DSanitize the template HTML on the server side using an allowlist of safe tags and attributes.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
4. 3foundation · easy

   During a threat modeling session, a misuse case is identified where an authenticated user can escalate privileges by tampering with a hidden form field. Which mitigating control directly addresses this specific risk?

   • AAdd a CAPTCHA to the login form
   • BImplement server-side validation of all authorization decisions
   • CImplement input length validation on the form field
   • DUse HTTPS to encrypt all traffic
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
5. 4application · medium

   A government portal allows citizens to file tax returns online. The threat model identified a misuse case where an attacker submits a crafted XML payload to the backend parser, exploiting an external entity to read local files. The team needs a control that neutralizes this specific vulnerability class. Which control should be specified?

   • AValidate the XML against a strict XSD schema.
   • BRun the parser in a sandboxed environment with restricted network access.
   • CUse a blacklist of dangerous keywords like 'file://' and 'http://' in the XML input.
   • DDisable DTD (Document Type Definition) processing and external entity resolution in the XML parser.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first
6. 5application · medium

   A SaaS application allows tenants to upload CSV files for bulk data import. The threat model identified a misuse case where a tenant uploads a CSV containing formulas (e.g., =CMD|'/C calc'!A0) that, when exported and opened in a spreadsheet application, executes arbitrary commands on the analyst's workstation. Which mitigating control should be implemented?

   • ASanitize CSV cells by stripping leading characters like '=', '+', '-', and '@'.
   • BValidate that the file is a valid CSV by checking the MIME type.
   • CStore the CSV file in a password-protected zip archive.
   • DConvert the CSV to PDF before allowing download.
   Reveal Solution Discussion Select an answer first