Introduction

In the rush to deploy web applications, developers and system administrators sometimes overlook a critical post-installation step: removing installation files. This seemingly minor oversight can have catastrophic consequences, potentially granting attackers complete control over your application.

This vulnerability, classified under OWASP Top 10:2025 as A02 Security Misconfiguration, affects countless web applications worldwide. In 2025, security researchers discovered that 100% of applications tested had some form of misconfiguration, with leftover installation files being one of the most commonly exploited vectors.