[ISM] Input validation and sanitization:

[OWASP] Validate all user inputs to prevent injection attacks (SSS-02-19-01)

Ensure all user inputs are strictly validated to prevent injection attacks and data corruption. For example, enforce positive allowlists and strong data typing to accept only expected input formats, reducing the risk of SQL injection, XSS, and other attacks; Implement length, range, and format checks to further constrain input and prevent buffer overflows or unintended data processing; Integrate input validation at all stages of development, including architecture, design, coding, and testing, to ensure security is built in from the start; Continuously review and test validation controls to detect and mitigate potential weaknesses before deployment.

[SAMM] Conduct security testing and validation (SSS-02-19-01-01)

Organizations must conduct security tests to validate that all standard security controls function as intended, ensuring robust protection of confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) of both data and services. These tests should cover critical security mechanisms, including authentication, access control, input validation, encoding, escaping, and encryption to detect potential weaknesses. Security testing should be integrated into the development lifecycle, systematically verifying that security controls are correctly implemented and effective in preventing unauthorized access or data manipulation. The objective is to ensure that applications enforce security policies consistently, mitigating risks before deployment. By continuously assessing the effectiveness of security defenses, organizations can proactively identify gaps and reinforce their security posture, reducing the likelihood of security failures in production environments.

Operations

ID	Operation	Description	Phase	Agent
SSS-02-19-01-01-01	Implement Positive Allow Lists for Input Validation	Ensure input validation is implemented using positive allow lists, allowing only expected input types, values, and formats. This approach helps prevent malicious data from entering the application.	Development	Security Engineers, Software Developers
SSS-02-19-01-01-02	Enforce Strong Data Typing	Use strong data typing mechanisms to ensure that all inputs conform to expected data types, reducing the risk of injection attacks and data corruption.	Development	Security Engineers, Backend Developers
SSS-02-19-01-01-03	Perform Length and Range Checks	Include length and range checks as part of the input validation process. This helps to further reduce the possibility of successful injection attacks and buffer overflow vulnerabilities.	Development	Security Engineers, Backend Developers
SSS-02-19-01-01-04	Integrate Input Validation into Architecture and Development	Incorporate secure input validation during the application architecture and Development stages to ensure that security is built into the system from the beginning.	Preparation	Security Architects, Product Managers
SSS-02-19-01-01-05	Test Input Validation During Unit and Integration Testing	Ensure that input validation is thoroughly tested during unit and integration testing to confirm that only safe and valid data is processed.	Development	QA Teams, Software Developers

References

Industry framework	Academic work	Real-world case
Information Security Manual (ISM-1240) OWASP Application Security Verification Standard OWASP SAMM: Software Assurance Maturity Model (V-RT-1-A)