In a penetration testing engagement, you discover that a client's web application is improperly using data received from form submissions, leading to a high-risk vulnerability. In the final report, you advise on a defense mechanism that separates the input content from the database command. Which recommendation most effectively mitigates the identified risk?
Escape all special characters in the form submission data to neutralize any malicious payloads.
Implement parameterized queries as this method prevents attacker-provided data from being treated as executable instructions.
Limit the number of characters in form text inputs to reduce the risk of hazardous commands being injected.
Rely on the inherent security of stored procedures to handle any direct interaction with the database.
Enforce strict validation checks in the browser to ensure only clean data is submitted to the server.
To mitigate the risk of attacks like injection, it is essential to use parameterized queries because this technique allows the application to distinguish between code and data, regardless of user input. Other methods mentioned, such as input length restrictions, do not address the underlying issue and offer no security against well-crafted malicious input targeting database operations. Client-side validation can be easily bypassed, and although input escaping and stored procedures can contribute to security, they have limitations and potential bypasses that do not offer the same level of safety as parameterized queries.
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