API penetration testing

Table of Contents

Introduction:

API stands for Application programming interface; API penetration testing is used to identify the vulnerabilities and the security flows that could be used by the attacker and eliminate them before they can be exploited. API vulnerabilities are the same as the other vulnerabilities found in any other system or device, in short, API vulnerabilities can have the same potential, depending on the situations or circumstances. API penetration testing ensures that the data is safely transferred from one device to another.

API penetration testing: the importance

In today’s digital world, data transfer is integral to connectivity. A number of modern web and mobile applications handle a large amount of sensitive information, such as medical records, personal identification information, and banking records, which can be of interest to hackers. For the protection of sensitive information, it is important to use a tested and secure API instead of an insecure API.

What are the most common API vulnerabilities?

There are a number of vulnerabilities that can affect APIs. According to OWASP’s Top 10 to API security, released in 2019, the 10 most common weaknesses are listed below. The OWASP Top 10 highlights the significance of authorization and authentication in API security incidents. This differs from typical web application attacks, which often rely on cross-site scripting vulnerabilities. The OWASP Top 10 should be part of the API penetration testing methodology used by your pen-testing partner and security provider.

For details on the individual vulnerabilities, you can visit the URLs provided on the vulnerability links.

How to do effective API penetration testing:

API penetration testing involves the below stages, let’s check the details:

Planning: and gathering information: API penetration testing requires flawless execution planning to ensure that a particular path is followed, the scope of the test is defined, the engagement rule is specified, and testing methods and timelines are addressed. During this phase, the tester collects maximum information about the target API, including details such as IP, authentication credentials, URLs and test cases, etc.
Vulnerability Analysis: The tester tries to identify the vulnerabilities with multiple tools and processes. The tester can perform automatic scanning and manual methods to identify the vulnerabilities.
Exploitation:
In this stage where the tester Simulates the attack and tries to exploit the discovered vulnerabilities and tries to breach the API security of an application. This phase helps identify the depth to which the tester can penetrate through the vulnerabilities and measure the extent of the damage. A few methods by which exploitation can be carried out are below:
- Fuzz testing: This is a black box software testing approach that uses malicious data injection to uncover weaknesses.
- Command Injection: Method for determining if the web application responds to an HTTP request coming from another command, such as a database command, system call, or call to an external service.
- Endpoints Authorization: Testing that the API authorizes each request before processing and responding.
- Endpoints Authentication: This test is performed in conjunction with authorization. Test authorization with and without authentication, as well as all user roles’ privileges.
- Parameter tempering: Check for hidden and fixed fields and alter them to see whether the server still validates them appropriately.

Reporting:
The result of the process is combined into the report in detail, including the exploited vulnerabilities and sensitive data accessed during the simulated attack.

API Security best practices:

Although there are various security best practices for ensuring API security, we would like to present a few suggestions that should be absolutely be applied as best practices

Encrypt data: The Data in API at rest and in transit should always be encrypted with strong encryption, preventing unauthorized access to APIs.
Service Mesh: When processing API requests, service mesh technology applies a variety of controls and management. Furthermore, it optimizes the way services interact via APIs, ensuring that large applications with numerous APIs are automated and secure.
Use Rate limiting: Set limits on the frequency and processes of API calls to avert and prevent DDOS attacks on the system and to protect the application traffic. Rate limiting helps achieve the balance between the availability and security of API amongst the users.

Conclusion

The proliferation of API attacks is making API penetration testing one of the most important aspects of security, hopefully, this blog gave a good insight into API penetration testing, if you have any further queries you can connect with us.

We feel glad to share that ASPIA is one of the best cybersecurity organizations in India with a dedicated team of security experts, our team will help you to conduct security validation of your APIs. ASPIA is committed to providing you with a risk and threat-free work environment that surely enhances your work experience and your credibility. Contact ASPIA Infotech today!