Less rigor in Web programming, an increasing variety of software, and restrictions on Web security testing have combined to make flaws in Web software the most reported security issues this year to date, according to the latest data from the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project. A draft report on the latest numbers from the vulnerability database found that 4,375 security issues had so far been cataloged in the first nine months of 2006, just shy of the 4,538 issues documented last year. Buffer overflows, a perennial favorite, fell to the No. 4 slot. The jump in Web-based vulnerabilities is fueled by the simplicity of exploiting many of the most common Web vulnerabilities, the enormous number of Web applications freely available, and the difficulty in eradicating cross-site scripting flaws. Moreover, while many of the vulnerabilities are easy to test for and find, independent security researchers are less likely to probe another group’s Web site to find the flaws, because doing so violates computer intrusion statutes.