Massive Data on Response

Description

The "Massive Data on Response" vulnerability refers to a security weakness where an excessive amount of data is included in an application's response to a request. This can lead to performance issues, resource exhaustion, and potentially enable Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Mitigation involves implementing proper pagination, data filtering, and limiting the amount of data returned in each response to prevent overwhelming the system and protect against exploitation.

Remediation

Implement server-side pagination, filtering, or chunked data retrieval methods to control the volume of data returned per request. Configure rate limits or throttling to prevent automated tools from repeatedly requesting large datasets. Monitor and log resource usage to detect spikes in response sizes that may indicate attempts at DoS. Employ a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or intrusion detection system to detect suspicious patterns related to massive data requests. Regularly review your API design to ensure endpoints do not inadvertently expose excessive or unnecessary data.

References

Severity

Owasp

Code: A04:2021

Category: Insecure Design

Classification