Offensive security assessments

API Pentesting

We deliver scoped api pentesting with documented methodology, severity-rated findings, and remediation guidance aligned to your compliance requirements.

What we assess

Coverage areas for this engagement are documented during scoping. Contact us to align assessment depth to your environment.

How we run it

Documented phases aligned to industry frameworks. Every step produces evidence your engineering team can replay.

Discover and map

OWASP API Security

We inventory every API surface before testing a single endpoint.

Collect OpenAPI/Swagger specs, Postman collections, and mobile or SPA traffic captures.
Enumerate versions, environments, and undocumented routes from application behavior.
Document authentication schemes: API keys, JWT, OAuth 2.0, session cookies, mTLS.
Identify high-value flows: registration, checkout, admin, file upload, webhooks.

Authenticate and authorize

We test identity boundaries with multiple roles and token contexts.

Validate token issuance, expiry, rotation, and signature enforcement on JWTs.
Probe broken object level authorization (BOLA/IDOR) by swapping object IDs across users.
Test broken function level authorization: can a standard user reach admin-only routes?
Exercise OAuth flows for scope creep, redirect manipulation, and token replay.

Attack logic and data

We stress business rules, not just injection primitives.

Test mass assignment on write endpoints: hidden fields like role, balance, verified.
Probe payment and checkout flows for amount tampering, coupon reuse, and race conditions.
Validate rate limits, throttling, and resource exhaustion on login and reset endpoints.
Review excessive data exposure: are responses returning fields the client should never see?

Report and retest

Findings ship with severity, evidence, and engineering-ready remediation.

Map each finding to OWASP API Top 10 category and affected endpoint.
Provide reproducible request/response pairs your developers can replay.
Prioritize by exploitability and data sensitivity, not scanner volume.
Retest critical and high findings within the agreed window before audit or release.

Certification spotlight

Our operators hold industry-recognized offensive security credentials. For this engagement we lean on the certification below.

Primary certification

PenTest+

CompTIA

Why this matters for your engagement

CompTIA PenTest+ validates hands-on offensive methodology across networks, applications, and APIs. We lean on this certification for API engagements because it emphasizes scoping, attack surface analysis, exploitation, and post-engagement reporting aligned to what your auditors expect.

Also held

CompTIA Security+

CompTIA CySA+

Risk areas we cover

We map findings to OWASP API Security Top 10 (2023) and prioritize by exploitability and data sensitivity. Open a card to go deeper where we have a dedicated topic.

Broken object level authorization

API1:2023

Attackers access another user's records by changing an identifier in the URL or JSON body.

/orders/1001 returns another customer's order when the ID is incremented.
PATCH /users/me with a victim userId writes to the wrong account.

Broken function level authorization

API5:2023

Low-privilege tokens can invoke administrative or internal-only API functions.

DELETE /api/admin/users callable with a standard bearer token.
Hidden export endpoint reachable without role checks.

Broken object property authorization

API3:2023

Write endpoints accept fields the client should not control, enabling privilege or balance changes.

Registration accepts {"role":"admin","isAdmin":true}.
Profile update modifies account balance or verification flags.

Broken authentication

API2:2023

Weak, missing, or improperly validated authentication on API endpoints and token lifecycles.

JWT accepted with alg:none or expired tokens still honored.
API keys shared across environments without rotation.

Business logic abuse

Workflow steps can be skipped, replayed, or chained to bypass payment, approval, or verification.

Checkout completes without payment confirmation callback.
Discount codes stack beyond intended limits.

Unrestricted resource consumption

API4:2023

Missing rate limits enable credential stuffing, enumeration, and denial of service against expensive endpoints.

Password reset allows unlimited attempts per minute.
GraphQL queries lack depth or cost limits.

API styles we test

REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and WebSocket each carry distinct attack surfaces. We scope depth to what your stack actually exposes.

REST

HTTP/JSON

Focus: Resource endpoints, HTTP verbs, OpenAPI specs
Common risks: BOLA, mass assignment, excessive data exposure, injection

GraphQL

HTTP/JSON

Focus: Schema, queries, mutations, subscriptions
Common risks: Introspection leaks, query depth attacks, authorization on resolvers

SOAP

XML over HTTP

Focus: WSDL, envelope structure, WS-Security
Common risks: XXE, SOAPAction injection, verbose error disclosure

WebSocket

Persistent socket

Focus: Real-time messaging, session binding
Common risks: Message tampering, missing auth on subscribe, flooding

Test scenarios

Representative scenarios from our API engagement playbook. Each maps to a severity-rated finding with reproducible evidence.

Scenario	What we validate	Pass criteria
Authentication testing	Confirm login and token mechanisms resist bypass and weak credentials.	Default credentials rejected, JWT signature enforced, tokens invalidated on logout.
Authorization / IDOR	Ensure users cannot read or modify other users' objects.	Changing orderId in /orders/{id} returns 403 for non-owners.
Mass assignment	Verify write endpoints ignore privileged fields from the client.	PATCH /users/me ignores role, isAdmin, and balance when supplied.
Rate limiting	Validate throttling on authentication and sensitive operations.	Login endpoint returns 429 after repeated failures; reset is throttled.
Payment and checkout	Protect transaction integrity against tampering and replay.	Amount and currency cannot be altered client-side; webhooks are authenticated.
Data exposure	Confirm responses only include fields required by the client.	Profile API does not return password hashes, internal IDs, or full PAN.

What you receive

Every engagement concludes with actionable output your security and engineering teams can operationalize.

Findings report

Documented vulnerabilities with severity ratings, affected assets, and reproducible evidence your team can action.

Remediation guidance

Prioritized recommendations mapped to risk and effort, with clear ownership for engineering and operations teams.

Retest scope

Defined retest window for critical and high findings so you can confirm fixes before auditors or leadership review.

Compliance and trust

Findings are mapped to severity frameworks and can support SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and GDPR evidence requests. Review our security practices and subprocessors in the Trust Center.