API Security

Improper-API-Inventory-Mgmt-KrishnaG-CEO

OWASP Top 10 API Security Risks – 2023: API9:2023 – Improper Inventory Management

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Improper inventory management refers to the failure to adequately track and manage the lifecycle of APIs within an organisation. This includes:

– Keeping track of all deployed API versions.
– Documenting endpoints, their functions, and access control requirements.
– Managing deprecated or unused versions.
– Ensuring that sensitive or debug information is not exposed via endpoints.
– Auditing and monitoring API usage regularly.

When APIs are not properly inventoried, organisations may unknowingly expose insecure or deprecated API versions to the public. This can lead to serious security issues, as older versions may lack critical patches or expose debugging functionality that provides attackers with valuable information.

SSRF-Vulnerabilities-KrishnaG-CEO

OWASP Top 10 API Security Risks – 2023: API7:2023 – Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

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SSRF vulnerabilities occur when an API fetches a remote resource using a user-supplied Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) without adequate validation. This oversight allows attackers to manipulate the request, coercing the server to interact with unintended destinations. These attacks bypass traditional network controls like firewalls and VPNs, making them particularly insidious.

Broken-Function-Level-Authorisation-KrishnaG-CEO

In-depth Exploration of OWASP API Security Top 10 (2023) – API5:2023 – Broken Function Level Authorisation for Software Developers

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Broken Function Level Authorisation occurs when an attacker is able to access functions or data that they are not authorised to use. This happens due to inadequate enforcement of role-based access controls (RBAC) or a failure to properly segregate administrative and regular user functions. APIs often expose a variety of functions depending on the user’s role (e.g., regular user, administrator, manager, etc.). When these functions are not sufficiently protected or are poorly designed, attackers can bypass these restrictions to gain unauthorised access to sensitive information or perform malicious activities.

Unrestricted-Resource-KrishnaG-CEO

OWASP Top 10 API Security Risks – 2023: API4:2023 – Unrestricted Resource Consumption

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Unrestricted resource consumption occurs when an API allows users or clients to request resources without proper limits or controls. Every API request consumes a certain amount of resources such as CPU cycles, memory, network bandwidth, storage, and other external services (e.g. email, SMS, or biometric validation). If these resources are not regulated, an attacker can exploit the API to consume disproportionate resources, leading to a range of undesirable consequences including:
Denial of Service (DoS): An attacker may cause the API to become unresponsive by overwhelming it with an excessive number of requests, or by requesting resources that are computationally expensive, leading to system crashes or slowdowns.
Inflated Operational Costs: APIs that involve third-party services, such as SMS or email delivery, may incur costs for each request. Without proper restrictions, malicious actors can generate high volumes of such requests, leading to unexpected cost overruns.
Data Loss or Degradation: APIs that allow unregulated access to large amounts of data or storage can be abused, resulting in slow system performance, data corruption, or loss.

Broken-Authorisation-KrishnaG-CEO

OWASP Top 10 API Security Risks – 2023: API1:2023 – Broken Object Level Authorisation

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Broken Object Level Authorisation (BOLA) arises when APIs expose endpoints handling object identifiers without adequate access control measures. This vulnerability allows attackers to manipulate object IDs to gain unauthorised access to data.