OWASP Publishes Business Logic Abuse Top 10

San Francisco, CA – June 4, 2025 – Ivan Novikov, Co-Founder & CEO of Wallarm, a leading provider of API security, announced today publication of the OWASP Business Logic Abuse Top 10 vulnerabilities, a first of its kind list of cross-domain business logic vulnerabilities that transcend technology stacks. Most Top 10 lists are built around a specific technology domain, but business logic abuse isn’t technology specific. As one of the project leaders, Ivan Novikov presented the Business Logic Top 10 at the OWASP Global AppSec EU conference in Barcelona on May 30, 2025. Silvia Pravida, API Engineer at a financial institution, and Sergei Lega, Lead Product Manager at Wallarm, also contributed to the development of this top 10 list. 

The Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) is a nonprofit foundation that works to improve the security of software. OWASP started with the publication of the original OWASP Top 10, highlighting web application vulnerabilities. OWASP now supports and promotes a variety of programs around application security. 

“PCI DSS 4.0 now requires us to stop business logic abuse — that’s clear in Requirement 6.2.4. But what’s missing is the ‘how’,” said Silvia Pravida. “There’s no standard list of real-world logic attack types banks should defend against. That’s why I joined the OWASP project: to help build that list. So every financial team can spot the tricks before they cost real money.”

As applications have grown in complexity, attackers have shifted and evolved their tactics. Flaws in code used to be the primary vulnerabilities in applications, but business logic flaws are increasingly targeted by attackers. Unlike traditional application vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection or misconfigurations, business logic abuse exploits design flaws in how applications operate. These attacks manipulate application workflows, state transitions, and decision-making processes to gain unauthorized access, bypass restrictions, or disrupt operations. For example, a recent incident with mobile provider O2 in the UK exposed user location data via call metadata. This incident is an example of both “Data Oracle Exposure” and “Missing Roles and Permissions Checks.”

“It’s incredibly important for the community to have a common language around business logic attacks,” said Ivan Novikov, Co-Founder and CEO of Wallarm. “These types of attacks transcend a specific software stack or technology. They don’t fit into the existing taxonomies, but they are being actively exploited by attackers today.” 

The OWASP Business Logic Abuse Top 10 aims to close the gap around these types of attacks by enumerating and classifying the different types of business logic abuse. In order for practitioners and vendors to effectively implement security controls, agreement on the methods and techniques used by attackers is vital. Until now, business logic abuse has been a gap in the industry’s understanding. 

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The business logic top 10 includes: 

Class 1: Lifecycle & Orphaned Transitions Flaws

Class 2: Logic Bomb, Loops and Halting Issues

Class 3: Data Type Smuggling

Class 4: Sequential State Bypass

Class 5: Data Oracle Exposure

Class 6: Missing Roles and Permission Checks

Class 7: Transition Validation Flaws

Class 8: Replays of Idempotency Operations

Class 9: Race Condition and Concurrency Issues

Class 10: Resource Quota Violations

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Wallarm delivers comprehensive protection against the OWASP Top 10 for Business Logic Abuse by combining AI-driven anomaly detection, deep API traffic inspection, and precise policy enforcement. From detecting orphaned workflows and blocking sequential state bypasses to preventing token replay, role manipulation, and resource quota violations, Wallarm safeguards modern APIs and AI applications against logic-layer attacks that evade traditional security controls. With advanced GraphQL protection, customizable AI detectors, and real-time abuse prevention, Wallarm ensures resilient, compliant, and secure API-driven workflows.

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The Business Logic Abuse Top 10 will continue to be a community project, accepting feedback and contributions in line with OWASP’s principles. The full list, including details and exploit examples, is available from OWASP: https://owasp.org/www-project-top-10-for-business-logic-abuse/

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