Understanding the OWASP Top 10: What MSPs Need to Know in 2025

If you support small and mid-sized businesses, you already know that web applications are at the center of almost everything your clients do. Their public website, CRM portals, donations pages, student information systems, intranets, HR apps and the dozens of other tools they rely on every day all share one thing: they stand on the internet front line.

This is where the OWASP Top 10 comes in. It is not a list for developers only. It is a practical, widely accepted view of the most common and most dangerous web application risks that attackers use to breach organizations of all sizes.

For MSPs, understanding these risks is an opportunity to improve client security, reduce tickets, prevent breaches and create new service revenue around secure configurations and continuous validation.

This post breaks down what the OWASP Top 10 actually means for an MSP in the real world.

What is the OWASP Top 10

The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) maintains the Top 10 to highlight the most critical categories of application security risks. It is backed by real data from vulnerability scanners, public breaches and coordinated research.

OWASP does not just serve enterprise development teams. The Top 10 is relevant to MSPs because these risks show up in:

• WordPress and plugin ecosystems

• Customer portals and web apps hosted on client infrastructure

• Firewalls, NAS devices and appliances that expose web interfaces

• SaaS misconfigurations your clients do not realize are risky

• Custom apps created by external contractors

When you see an incident that starts with "They logged in without a password" or "They uploaded a malicious file to the web portal", there is a good chance it aligns to one of these categories.

Why MSPs Should Care

Three reasons:

1. OWASP risks are in every SMB environment

Even schools, non-profits and small businesses run apps with login pages, upload functions, admin panels and APIs. That means these risks are sitting in your customer base today.

2. Attackers use these weaknesses for real-world breaches

Threat actors rely on misconfigurations, weak authentication and exposed admin panels. These are mapped directly to OWASP categories.

3. It gives you a simple framework for client education and service packaging

When an MSP explains security in OWASP terms, clients understand why a solution matters without needing technical detail.

The OWASP Top 10 for MSPs (Plain Language)

Below are the categories but we've put an MSP spin to help provide some context.

1. Broken Access Control

Incorrect permissions or missing restrictions let attackers access pages, settings or data they should not see.

For MSPs: This includes poorly configured WordPress admin panels, exposed dashboards, or any product where "anyone could access it without logging in".

2. Cryptographic Failures

Sensitive data is sent or stored without proper encryption.

For MSPs: This includes websites running without HTTPS, outdated TLS, misconfigured VPN appliances or backups stored without encryption.

3. Injection

User input is not validated and leads to SQL injection, command injection or similar issues.

For MSPs: Think of outdated PHP apps, old school software still used by municipalities and schools, or plugins that directly interact with a database.

4. Insecure Design

The system contains security gaps because of poor design decisions rather than coding mistakes.

For MSPs: This often shows up in legacy school or nonprofit apps with no MFA support or where permissions were an afterthought.

5. Security Misconfiguration

Servers, apps, frameworks or cloud services are deployed with unsafe defaults or unnecessary features.

For MSPs: This is one of the largest attack categories in SMB environments. Examples include open admin pages, directory listing enabled, exposed configuration files or default passwords.

6. Vulnerable and Outdated Components

Software that relies on old or unpatched libraries and components.

For MSPs: This includes WordPress plugins, forgotten appliances, outdated ERP systems and old Java versions powering small business apps. Many of these apps haven't been updated in ages and have components with countless known vulnerabilities.

7. Identification and Authentication Failures

Passwords, sessions or logins are handled insecurely.

For MSPs: This includes missing MFA, weak session handling and login pages that are not protected against brute force attacks.

8. Software and Data Integrity Failures

Applications do not protect against tampering or unexpected changes in trusted data or software.

For MSPs: A common example is automatic updates that pull unsigned packages or integrations that trust external data blindly.

9. Security Logging and Monitoring Failures

Systems do not record or alert when something suspicious happens.

For MSPs: This often explains why a breach went unnoticed. Many SMB websites simply do not log admin activity or failed logins.

10. Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

A vulnerable web application is tricked into making requests to internal systems.

For MSPs: This is increasingly targeted in cloud and hybrid environments. Attackers use SSRF to move laterally inside networks.

How MSPs Can Use the OWASP Top 10 Today

1. Client Education

Use OWASP as a framework to talk about risk in business terms. It helps explain why validation, scanning and secure configuration matter, especially for their legacy custom applications.

2. Strengthen Website and Portal Security

Most MSPs manage at least one WordPress site and multiple SMB portals. The OWASP Top 10 gives you a checklist to evaluate and improve them.

3. Improve Your Service Offerings

Package OWASP-aligned services like:

• Secure configuration hardening

• Continuous vulnerability scanning

• Monthly validation reports

• WordPress and web app hardening

• External attack surface reviews

  
  

4. Provide Better Incident Response

When an incident happens, mapping it to OWASP helps explain the root cause to clients and gives your team a structured way to investigate.