API Penetration Test. @api-penetration-test

APIs are the modern attack surface: broken object-level authorization and business-logic flaws rarely show up in scanners, and they lead directly to data. This sprint tests a defined API surface methodically — authorization at object and function level, input handling, data exposure, rate and protocol behavior, and the logic paths unique to your product.

The approach uses the OWASP API Security Top 10 as a floor, not a ceiling. The finish state: reproducible findings with severity, evidence, and concrete fixes, an engineering debrief, and a retest of remediated issues.

Surface mapping & threat model

The surface mapped from spec or traffic, with a threat model that decides where adversarial depth matters most.

Authorization & object-level testing

BOLA and function-level authorization tested across roles and tenants — the flaw class scanners miss and attackers favor.

Input, logic & protocol attacks

Injection, mass assignment, data over-exposure, rate and protocol behavior, and the business-logic paths unique to your product.

Findings report & retest

Reproducible findings with evidence, severity, and concrete fixes; an engineering debrief; and a retest of remediated issues.

1. Scope. Map the surface, and agree the accounts, tenants, and rules of engagement.
2. Build. Execute authorization, input, logic, and protocol testing; document findings.
3. Handover. Findings report, engineering debrief, and retest of fixes.

The API Penetration Test is a menu item on the Scrums.com delivery catalog, available at every plan tier. Add it to your plan backlog and your delivery team schedules it like any other item — scoped, tracked, and reported through the SEOP. See Delivery Plan Tiers.

How is this different from API test automation?

Automation guards expected behavior on every change; this test attacks the surface adversarially, hunting what the API should have refused. They pair well — found classes get encoded into the API Test Automation Suite so they stay fixed.

What do we need to provide?

API documentation or a spec if you have one, a test environment, credentials for multiple roles and tenants, and written authorization.

What if the findings list is large?

Findings arrive ranked, so remediation can start with the exploitable-to-data paths. The Vulnerability Management Setup item gives recurring findings a tracked owner-and-SLA process rather than a spreadsheet afterlife.