APIs are a great source of sensitive data and network resources for users, applications, and IoT devices. Hence, their security is of utmost importance.
A lack of a strong security layer will leave your devices and data vulnerable to a wide range of attacks.
API security aims to ensure that API requests are validated, authorized, authenticated, cleaned, and able to be executed even during periods of high service demand.
The characteristics of API security are distinct from ordinary web servers, which only need to protect a few basic ports and requests because a modern application or service has several API endpoints that employ diverse protocols and request formats.
When developing an API or updating one, the following security vulnerabilities should be taken into consideration.
1. Broken object-level authorization
BOLA happens when a request can access or change information that the requestor shouldn’t have access to. An example of this would be if a requester tampered with an identifier to get access to another user’s account.
2. Broken function-level authorization.
This occurs when the principle of least privilege (POLP) is not followed, which frequently happens as a result of too intricate access control regulations. As a result, an attacker can access endpoints meant for privileged accounts or execute sensitive commands.
3. Broken user authentication
Similar to BOLA, an attacker can temporarily or permanently assume the identity of another user if the authentication procedure is breached.
4. An abundance of data exposure
An API response to a request frequently yields more information than is required or pertinent. Sensitive information may be exposed even though the data may not be seen by the user, but it is still easily analyzed.
5. Poor asset management
In the race to offer new or updated APIs, comprehensive documentation is frequently overlooked during the typically fast-paced development and deployment of APIs. This results in exposed and ghost endpoints and a lack of knowledge about the functionality and implementation requirements of older APIs.
6. Insufficient resources and rate limiting
If there are no limitations on the quantity or size of requests, API endpoints are often accessible over the internet and are vulnerable to brute-force and denial-of-service attacks.
7. Errors in injection
An attacker may use a command or SQL injection attack to obtain request data or run malicious commands without authorization if it is not properly parsed and validated.
8. Mass assignment
Software development frameworks frequently demonstrated the ability to perform mass assignment, which eliminates the need for repetitive lines of form-mapping code, by inserting all the data received from an online form into a database or object with just one line of code. If this is carried out without defining what kind of data is allowed, numerous attack avenues become available.