Challenge 8 of 25 · Technical
Security Audit Challenges (WASA)
ABDM requires digital health applications to undergo security validation/audits such as WASA. A single finding can delay production onboarding — outdated libraries, weak TLS, XSS/CSRF, access control gaps and sensitive exposure are common blockers.
Technical: High
Operational: Medium
Problem summary
What goes wrong in the field
ABDM requires digital health applications to undergo security validation/audits such as WASA. A single finding can delay production onboarding — outdated libraries, weak TLS, XSS/CSRF, access control gaps and sensitive exposure are common blockers.
Specific pains integrators hit
- Vulnerability findings pile up late because security was deferred to “after feature complete”.
- Outdated libraries and transitive dependencies with known CVEs.
- SSL/TLS misconfiguration and weak cipher suites.
- Authentication weaknesses and session fixation risks.
- API security problems: missing authz checks, excessive data in responses.
- Insecure headers, missing CSP/HSTS, clickjacking exposure.
- SQL injection, XSS and CSRF classes of issues in hospital-facing apps.
- Sensitive information exposure in logs, error pages and backups.
- Improper access control and weak password policies.
- Server/hardening configuration problems on on-prem deployments.
How ABDMExpert helps
Practical responses — not slogans
- WASA remediation guidance and security hardening sprints.
- Prioritised finding triage mapped to production-blocker vs backlog.
- Secure defaults in middleware (headers, auth patterns, secret handling).
- Evidence packs that support demo and production key paths.