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Question 121.

A software team is adding a new administrative function to an existing application. What should be done FIRST from a security perspective?

1. Identify the required privileges, misuse scenarios, and authorization rules
2. Give all administrators access by default
3. Disable audit logging for the new function
4. Implement the interface before defining security requirements

Correct Answer: 1. Identify the required privileges, misuse scenarios, and authorization rules

Explanation:

Administrative functionality is high risk because it can affect users, data, configuration, and security controls. Before implementation, the team should define who may perform the function, under what conditions, and how misuse will be prevented or detected. These requirements guide authorization, logging, approval, and testing. Adding privileges first and governing them later can create insecure defaults that are difficult to correct.

Question 122.

Which technique BEST reduces the risk of LDAP injection?

1. Concatenate untrusted input directly into LDAP queries
2. Use safe query construction with appropriate escaping or parameterization and input validation
3. Disable authentication
4. Run the application with directory administrator privileges

Correct Answer: 2. Use safe query construction with appropriate escaping or parameterization and input validation

Explanation:

LDAP injection can occur when untrusted input changes the meaning of a directory query. Applications should use framework-supported safe query construction, correctly escape special characters where required, and validate input according to expected formats. The service account should also have only the directory permissions it needs. Broad privileges increase the impact of a successful injection attack.

Question 123.

A secure design review is evaluating communication between microservices. Which question is MOST important?

1. Do all services use the same programming language?
2. Are all services deployed on the same day?
3. Are service identities authenticated and are permissions limited to required interactions?
4. Do all services use identical logging formats?

Correct Answer: 3. Are service identities authenticated and are permissions limited to required interactions?

Explanation:

Microservices communicate frequently across internal boundaries, so each service should have a trustworthy identity and only the permissions needed for its function. Strong service authentication, narrowly scoped authorization, protected transport, and controlled network paths reduce lateral movement after compromise. A common language or deployment date does not meaningfully address service-to-service trust.

Question 124.

A software application must continue to protect sensitive data even if detailed error logging fails. Which approach is BEST?

1. Disable authorization until logging returns
2. Expose diagnostic details to users instead
3. Allow unrestricted access so operations continue
4. Preserve critical security controls and use secure degraded logging behavior

Correct Answer: 4. Preserve critical security controls and use secure degraded logging behavior

Explanation:

Logging is important, but a logging failure should not automatically disable authentication, authorization, or data-protection controls. The application may buffer events, use an alternate logging path, alert operators, or limit nonessential processing. Failure behavior should be designed in advance based on risk. Security-critical protections should remain effective even when supporting telemetry components are unavailable.

Question 125.

Which practice BEST helps reduce overcollection of personal data in software?

1. Collect only data required for defined business purposes
2. Collect every available field in case it is useful later
3. Retain all customer data indefinitely
4. Copy production data into every development environment

Correct Answer: 1. Collect only data required for defined business purposes

Explanation:

Data minimization reduces privacy exposure, breach impact, storage burden, and compliance complexity. Software requirements should specify which personal data is genuinely required and why. Unnecessary collection creates additional risk without corresponding business value. Retention and access should also be limited according to legitimate business, legal, and regulatory requirements.

Question 126.

A development team needs to secure a webhook endpoint that receives events from a trusted external provider. Which control is MOST appropriate?

1. Trust any request reaching the endpoint
2. Verify the sender using a signature or equivalent authenticated mechanism and validate the event
3. Disable transport encryption
4. Accept events from any source without validation

Correct Answer: 2. Verify the sender using a signature or equivalent authenticated mechanism and validate the event

Explanation:

Webhook endpoints are exposed entry points and should verify that events originated from the expected provider and were not modified. Signature validation, authenticated transport, replay protection, and strict payload validation can all contribute to secure processing. Network filtering may be an additional control but should not be the sole basis for trust when stronger cryptographic verification is available.

Question 127.

What is the MAIN security benefit of using memory-safe programming languages or memory-safe abstractions where practical?

1. They eliminate all software vulnerabilities
2. They remove the need for security testing
3. They reduce classes of defects such as many buffer overflows and use-after-free errors
4. They guarantee correct authorization logic

Correct Answer: 3. They reduce classes of defects such as many buffer overflows and use-after-free errors

Explanation:

Memory-safe languages and abstractions can prevent or significantly reduce common memory-corruption vulnerabilities that arise from unsafe pointer manipulation, buffer boundaries, and object lifetime errors. They do not eliminate logic flaws, authorization weaknesses, injection, or insecure design. Secure development still requires threat modeling, testing, code review, and appropriate architecture.

Question 128.

A security-critical software change is merged without peer review because the author is a senior developer. What control is MOST appropriate?

1. Seniority should automatically bypass review
2. Disable source-control audit records
3. Allow developers to approve their own changes
4. Require review based on change risk rather than author seniority

Correct Answer: 4. Require review based on change risk rather than author seniority

Explanation:

Peer review is intended to provide independent examination of important changes. Expertise can reduce mistakes but does not eliminate them, and senior developers can also introduce security defects. Review requirements should be based on the sensitivity and risk of the code being changed. Branch protections and approval workflows can enforce consistent governance regardless of who authored the change.

Question 129.

Which practice BEST supports secure session management after a user’s password is changed because compromise is suspected?

1. Invalidate existing sessions and require appropriate reauthentication
2. Keep all current sessions active indefinitely
3. Publish current session tokens to the user
4. Disable authentication logging

Correct Answer: 1. Invalidate existing sessions and require appropriate reauthentication

Explanation:

If a password is changed because compromise is suspected, existing sessions may also be under attacker control. Invalidating active sessions and requiring reauthentication helps terminate that access. Depending on the system, the organization may also revoke refresh tokens, API tokens, or remembered-device credentials. Credential recovery should consider the full authentication state, not only the password itself.

Question 130.

A team wants to reduce the chance that a vulnerable dependency is silently introduced into production. Which control is BEST?

1. Allow dependency updates without review
2. Enforce dependency scanning and policy checks in the build pipeline
3. Disable version pinning and inventory
4. Ignore transitive dependencies

Correct Answer: 2. Enforce dependency scanning and policy checks in the build pipeline

Explanation:

Automated dependency scanning can identify known vulnerabilities, prohibited versions, unsupported packages, or unapproved sources before software is released. Build policies can block components that exceed defined risk thresholds. Inventory and monitoring should include transitive dependencies because they can introduce vulnerabilities indirectly. This provides repeatable supply-chain controls during development and release.

Question 131.

A web application relies entirely on client-side JavaScript to determine whether a user may perform an administrative action. What is the PRIMARY weakness?

1. Client-side code runs too slowly
2. JavaScript cannot display administrative functions
3. Authorization can be bypassed because the client is not a trusted enforcement point
4. Client-side applications cannot use encryption

Correct Answer: 3. Authorization can be bypassed because the client is not a trusted enforcement point

Explanation:

Attackers control their own browsers and can modify JavaScript, requests, hidden fields, and interface elements. Client-side checks may improve usability but cannot be trusted to enforce access control. The server must independently verify authorization for each protected operation using trusted identity and policy information. Otherwise, attackers may invoke administrative endpoints directly.

Question 132.

A software application processes highly sensitive data and creates temporary files during processing. Which design is MOST secure?

1. Leave temporary files indefinitely
2. Store them in a public shared directory
3. Give every local user access to the temporary files
4. Protect temporary files and delete them securely when no longer required

Correct Answer: 4. Protect temporary files and delete them securely when no longer required

Explanation:

Temporary files can contain the same sensitive information as primary data stores and should be protected accordingly. Access permissions, storage location, encryption where appropriate, naming, retention, and cleanup should all be considered. Data should not persist longer than necessary. Temporary processing locations are frequently overlooked during security reviews, creating unnecessary exposure.

Question 133.

What is the PRIMARY purpose of code-signing a software release?

1. Allow recipients to verify publisher authenticity and software integrity
2. Encrypt the software so users cannot execute it
3. Replace vulnerability testing
4. Prevent all malicious code from being written

Correct Answer: 1. Allow recipients to verify publisher authenticity and software integrity

Explanation:

Code signing enables users or systems to verify that software came from an authorized publisher and has not been modified since it was signed. Its effectiveness depends heavily on protecting the private signing key and signing process. Code signing does not prove that software is free from vulnerabilities or malicious logic introduced before signing, so development and testing controls remain necessary.

Question 134.

A product team wants to use production customer data for automated tests. What should it do FIRST?

1. Copy the entire production database
2. Determine whether real sensitive data is necessary and use masked or synthetic alternatives when possible
3. Disable access controls in the test environment
4. Give every tester production database privileges

Correct Answer: 2. Determine whether real sensitive data is necessary and use masked or synthetic alternatives when possible

Explanation:

Test environments often have broader access and fewer safeguards than production. Before using real customer data, the team should determine whether it is necessary. Synthetic, masked, tokenized, or otherwise minimized datasets can often provide equivalent testing value with substantially less privacy and security exposure. Any retained sensitive test data should receive protections appropriate to its classification.

Question 135.

A secure software team is evaluating a new open-source project for a critical component. Which factor is MOST relevant?

1. Number of screenshots in the documentation
2. Name recognition alone
3. Maintenance activity, security history, provenance, and response to reported vulnerabilities
4. The package’s file size

Correct Answer: 3. Maintenance activity, security history, provenance, and response to reported vulnerabilities

Explanation:

Critical dependencies should be evaluated for more than functionality. Active maintenance, security practices, release provenance, vulnerability history, and responsiveness to security reports provide important indicators of lifecycle risk. Teams should also consider licensing and long-term support. Popularity can provide useful context but should not be treated as proof that a component is secure.

Question 136.

An application accepts authentication tokens that are valid for several days even after users log out. What is the MAIN concern?

1. Longer tokens increase storage usage
2. Users may log in too frequently
3. Token validation may be too fast
4. Stolen tokens may remain usable for an excessive period

Correct Answer: 4. Stolen tokens may remain usable for an excessive period

Explanation:

Long-lived bearer tokens increase the window in which a stolen token can be abused. Token lifetime should reflect application risk, and systems may use short-lived access tokens with controlled refresh mechanisms. Logout, account compromise, and privilege changes should also be considered in revocation design. Sensitive applications may require stronger session invalidation and reauthentication controls.

Question 137.

Which practice BEST helps developers handle security exceptions consistently?

1. Use a standard exception process with documented risk, owner, mitigation, and review date
2. Let each developer approve exceptions informally
3. Keep exceptions outside the defect and risk systems
4. Make every exception permanent

Correct Answer: 1. Use a standard exception process with documented risk, owner, mitigation, and review date

Explanation:

Security requirements occasionally cannot be met exactly because of business or technical constraints. A formal exception process makes those deviations visible and accountable. It should document the reason, residual risk, compensating controls, responsible owner, approval, and review or expiration date. Without governance, temporary exceptions can become permanent vulnerabilities that no one actively manages.

Question 138.

A development team wants to ensure security defects cannot be silently closed without verification. Which process is BEST?

1. Let developers close their own defects immediately after changing code
2. Require remediation evidence and independent or automated verification before closure
3. Delete low-priority security findings automatically
4. Stop retesting vulnerabilities after patches

Correct Answer: 2. Require remediation evidence and independent or automated verification before closure

Explanation:

A code change does not prove that a vulnerability has been fixed correctly. Security defects should be retested using the original reproduction steps or an appropriate regression test before they are closed. Evidence of remediation and verification improves accountability and reduces recurrence. Higher-risk findings may justify independent validation before final closure.

Question 139.

A secure application depends on a third-party API for a critical business process. Which design consideration is MOST important?

1. The provider’s logo
2. Whether the API documentation uses the same font
3. Failure behavior, security expectations, authentication, and dependency risk
4. Whether the API response names are short

Correct Answer: 3. Failure behavior, security expectations, authentication, and dependency risk

Explanation:

Third-party APIs create both security and availability dependencies. The application should authenticate the provider, protect communications, validate responses, enforce timeouts, and define safe behavior when the API is unavailable or returns unexpected data. Business continuity and provider security should also be considered. External integrations should be treated as trust boundaries rather than assumed-safe extensions of the application.

Question 140.

Which practice BEST represents mature CSSLP-style secure software governance?

1. Leave security decisions entirely to individual developers
2. Perform one security review before initial release and stop
3. Use scanning tools without defined processes or ownership
4. Maintain security policies, lifecycle controls, risk decisions, metrics, training, and continuous improvement

Correct Answer: 4. Maintain security policies, lifecycle controls, risk decisions, metrics, training, and continuous improvement

Explanation:

Mature software security requires more than individual tools or one-time assessments. Governance establishes standards, assigns responsibilities, manages risk decisions and exceptions, provides training, and measures whether security activities are effective. Continuous improvement uses defect trends, incidents, test results, and changing threats to strengthen the development lifecycle over time. Security becomes a repeatable organizational capability rather than an isolated project task.