Category:OWASP Validation Project

=Overview=

Most web application platforms do not include features to validate user input. This leaves many organizations to craft their own validation mechanisms, often incomplete, flawed, and inefficient.

The OWASP Validation Project was created to provide guidance and tools related to validation. Our philosophy is that validation is required for every part of the HTTP request, including headers, query string, cookies, form fields, and hidden fields.

Currently, there are several projects underway to create validation technologies for various platforms. The long term goal is to provide a detailed guide for implementing proper input validation as well as provide validation engines for popular web application environments.

The OWASP Validation Project was created by Jeff Williams and is currently maintained by [mailto:eric.sheridan@owasp.org Eric Sheridan].

= Feedback and Participation: =

We hope you find the OWASP Validation Project useful. Please contribute to the Project by volunteering for one of the Tasks, sending your comments, questions, and suggestions to owasp@owasp.org. To join the OWASP Validation Project mailing list or view the archives, please visit the subscription page.

=News=

'''Rough Draft of the Validation Questionnaire Released! - 14:05, 23 January 2007 (EST)'''

The OWASP Validation Project is pleased to announce the rough draft release of the "Validation Questionnaire." The purpose of this document is to aide developers in performing a basic level of input validation threat modeling. If we can clearly define our application's sources of input and the potential risk associated with each source, then we can better implement an appropriate input validation scheme. Please feel free to offer suggestions for improvement!

to download the validation questionnaire.

'''New OWASP J2EE Filters Released! - 10:07, 5 January 2007 (EST)'''

The OWASP Community has released two brand new J2EE Filters! Both of the new filters attempt to address current hot topics is the web application security community.


 * OWASP CSRF Guard - protects a web application from Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks through the use of a unique random request token
 * PDF Attack Filter - protects a web application from the recently discovered XSS-PDF Flaw through the use of a redirect trick

If you have any suggestions or comments for either filter, please email your comments to [mailto:owasp@owasp.org owasp@owasp.org]

Click here for old news...

=Project Roadmap=

The three major goals of the OWASP Validation Project are the following:


 * build an input validation guide
 * provide and implement input validation mechanisms for various platforms
 * rewrite Stinger to incorporate the design principles in the guide

The OWASP Validation Roadmap contains the latest information as to project goals and targeted release dates.

=Guide to Building Input Validation=

One of the major goals of the OWASP Validation Project is to provide clear and detailed documentation on building input validation mechanisms for your web application needs. In the near future, this section will contain such documentation. Check back soon!

=Implementation=

The second major goal of the OWASP Validation Project is to provide input validation mechanisms which adhere to one or more of the design principles outlined in the 'Input Validation Guide'. If you have a project which fits this requirement, please submit it via email to the project lead.

OWASP Validation Documentation
The primary purpose of the OWASP Validation Documentation project is to provide the design principles necessary to build an effective input validation engine. More can be found here.

Java
The Stinger library is a full J2EE Validation Engine which strongly adheres to the principle's outline in the Validation Documentation. More information can be found on the Stinger Project page at http://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Stinger_Project

Most modern Java web frameworks include their own data validation features. All of these can validate user data in GET and POST requests, but usually do not validate cookie data. Web frameworks that provide their own validation features include:
 * Apache Struts
 * WebWork
 * Spring MVC
 * Java Server Faces
 * JBoss Seam

.NET
One of the goals of the OWASP Validation Project is to implement Stinger 2.0 on the .NET platform.

If you are interested in leading this project, please contact [mailto:eric.sheridan@owasp.org Eric Sheridan].

Please refer to the project road map for an estimated time of arrival.

PHP
The PHP Filters Project provides an API framework for validating input for various purposes. The project can be found here.

OWASP Recently released the OWASP Top 5, an article illustrating several attack vectors against PHP applications.

The majority of the PHP Top 5 can be alleviated with a solid and well defined validation mechanism.

RegEx Repository
The OWASP RegEx Repository contains a multitude of regular expressions for common data types. Developers implementing input validation engines should review these regular expressions. Save the time of developing a complicated regular expression that currently exists!

=Project Sponsor=

The OWASP Validation project is sponsored by http://www.owasp.org/images/d/d1/Aspect_logo.gif