# CD-SEC-06 - Vulnerable and Untrusted Components

> Nested sub-workflows and marketplace components inherit none of the parent app's security review.

- **Category**: Owasp Citizen Development
- **Subcategory**: top10
- **Canonical URL**: https://designpattern.fyi/patterns/cdsec06_vulnerable_untrusted_components/

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## Description
'**Intent**: Prevent vulnerable and untrusted components from introducing security risks through nested dependencies.

**Context**: Nested sub-workflows and marketplace components inherit none of the parent app's security review, so one flawed component — human-built or AI-suggested — gets copy-pasted across an entire codebase or org. AI assistants compound this by sometimes hallucinating entire packages that don't exist, which attackers can then register and weaponize.

**Solution**: Apply the same security controls to sub-components as the core app. Document expected input/output and validation requirements for every sub-workflow. Maintain standardized, pre-vetted subcomponents for common functionality. Monitor for hallucinated packages. Implement component security review processes.'



## Use Cases
Use when using marketplace components, sub-workflows, or AI-suggested libraries in low-code/no-code platforms and AI-assisted development.





## Trade-offs


### Advantages

- Prevents component vulnerabilities

- Enables component standardization

- Protects against package hallucination attacks

- Improves codebase security




### Considerations & Drawbacks

- Component maintenance overhead

- May limit marketplace flexibility

- Security review process adds time







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**Reference**: [Original Source](https://owasp.org/www-project-citizen-development-top10-security-risks/)