API security testing
managed end-to-end, not as a side task
Run REST, GraphQL, and OAuth API security testing as a tracked engagement. Store API credentials encrypted, scan authenticated endpoints, log findings against the OWASP API Security Top 10, and deliver retest-ready reports through a branded client portal.
No credit card required. Free plan available forever.
Run API security testing as a structured engagement, not a side project
APIs power most modern applications, and the most damaging vulnerabilities now live on the API surface rather than the rendered page. Broken object level authorization, weak token handling, missing rate limiting, GraphQL introspection abuse, and OAuth misconfiguration are routine findings on real engagements, but they are difficult to catch without authenticated coverage and a workflow that holds manual evidence next to scanner output. The default approach (run a public scan, paste the results into a spreadsheet, ship a PDF) loses the context that makes API findings actionable.
SecPortal runs API security testing as a tracked engagement. Store API credentials with AES-256-GCM encryption, run authenticated scans against the endpoints behind the token, log manual findings (BOLA chains, business logic flaws, GraphQL introspection, OAuth misuse) on the same engagement, triage with CVSS severity and OWASP mapping, deliver through a branded client portal, and pair retests to the original entries so nothing is reconstructed from memory.
Authentication coverage for the API patterns that matter
Most API security findings hide behind a token. Encrypted credential storage covers the authentication modes real APIs use, so authenticated scans run against the endpoints clients actually expose to logged-in callers.
Bearer Tokens and JWTs
Provide a JWT or opaque API token sent as an Authorization header. Authenticated scans hit endpoints behind the token, including admin and tenant-scoped routes that are invisible to anonymous probes.
Cookie Sessions
Paste a session cookie value and SecPortal injects it into every request. Useful for browser-style APIs and BFF patterns where the same session backs both the SPA and the API surface.
Basic Auth
Supply a username and password pair for HTTP Basic Authentication. Common for internal APIs, staging gateways, and partner integrations that have not migrated off Basic.
Form Login Bridges
Configure the login URL, form fields, and credentials. SecPortal authenticates first, then carries the resulting session into subsequent API requests so the scan reaches authenticated routes automatically.
Findings the API security testing workflow surfaces
Authenticated scanning catches the high-volume issues fast; manual testing layers in the business logic and authorization findings that automation cannot reason about. Both live in the same engagement record with reproducible evidence and a CVSS vector.
Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA)
Tests endpoints that take object identifiers (orders, users, tenants) for missing horizontal and vertical authorization checks. The most common API vulnerability and the hardest to find without authenticated coverage.
Broken Authentication
Probes login, token issuance, refresh, and password reset flows for replayable tokens, weak signing, missing expiry, and credential stuffing surfaces. Pairs with JWT inspection so trust assumptions are validated, not assumed.
Missing Rate Limiting
Detects API endpoints without throttling that expose authentication, password reset, and enumeration paths to brute force and abuse. Surfaces the exact endpoint, request shape, and observed rate.
Injection across JSON bodies
Tests SQL, NoSQL, command, and LDAP injection across query parameters, JSON request bodies, and headers. API findings include reproducible request and response evidence.
Security Misconfiguration
Flags verbose errors, debug endpoints exposed to production, missing security headers on API responses, default credentials, and CORS allowlists that trust unintended origins.
OAuth and Token Misuse
Surfaces missing PKCE on public clients, open redirect_uri parameters, weak state handling, and access tokens that are not scoped or revocable. Captures the request and the policy that should have prevented it.
REST, GraphQL, and OAuth on the same engagement record
Real API estates mix REST, GraphQL, and OAuth-protected services. Treating each as a separate engagement fragments the report and the remediation conversation. SecPortal keeps the surface together so the client sees one coherent view of API risk.
REST APIs
Authenticated coverage across REST endpoints documented through OpenAPI or discovered through routing inspection. Findings carry the HTTP method, path, parameter, payload, and observed response so triage starts with full context.
GraphQL APIs
Manual GraphQL findings can be logged with full request and response evidence: introspection exposure, query depth and complexity abuse, batch and alias attacks, field-level authorization gaps, and resolver injection paths. Each finding pairs to the schema element and the example operation that reproduced it.
OAuth and OIDC flows
OAuth findings live in the same engagement as the API findings they enable. Capture authorization code, client credentials, and device flow misconfigurations alongside the downstream API issues they unlock.
Why the workflow beats a standalone API scanner
- Authenticated scanning reaches endpoints behind the token, where the highest-risk API findings live, instead of stopping at the public surface.
- Findings carry a CVSS 3.1 vector, an OWASP API Security Top 10 mapping where it applies, and a remediation template so engineering sees what to fix and why before opening the file.
- Manual findings (BOLA chains, GraphQL abuse, OAuth misconfiguration) are logged in the same engagement as the scanner output, so the report is one record rather than two parallel deliverables.
- Retests pair to the original finding so the close-out captures the original scope, the fix, the retest evidence, and the final outcome on a single timeline.
- Scheduled scans can run weekly or monthly to catch regressions after deployments, so the API surface is monitored between formal pentest windows rather than only at the next assessment.
Integration with the engagement workflow
Engagement-linked API tests
API security tests are linked to a specific engagement. Authenticated scans, manual findings, evidence, and retests live on the same engagement record, not in parallel tools.
OWASP API Top 10 mapping
Findings map to OWASP API Security Top 10 categories where they apply. Stakeholders can see coverage by category instead of guessing what was tested.
CVSS severity normalisation
Automated and manual API findings use the same CVSS 3.1 scoring as web, network, and code findings, so prioritisation is consistent across the whole engagement.
AI report inclusion
API findings are included in AI-generated executive summaries, technical writeups, and remediation roadmaps alongside other engagement findings, producing one deliverable for the client.
Client portal delivery
Clients track API finding status, ask clarifying questions, and attach fix evidence in the branded portal. No email chains, no version drift between the PDF and the platform state.
Retest pairing
A retest opens against the original API finding rather than as a new record, so the verification context, severity, and CVSS vector carry through to the close-out.
Common API findings worth a deeper read
For background on the findings that show up most often during API engagements, the vulnerability encyclopedia covers each one with detection guidance, remediation steps, and a CVSS template:
- Broken object level authorization (BOLA) - the highest-volume API finding by a wide margin.
- Broken function level authorization (BFLA) - the action-level analogue of BOLA, where admin or privileged routes accept low-privilege tokens.
- JWT vulnerabilities - signing, expiry, and trust assumptions that fail under scrutiny.
- OAuth misconfiguration - PKCE, redirect_uri handling, and scope hygiene on real OAuth deployments.
- GraphQL vulnerabilities - introspection, batching, query depth, and field-level authorization.
- Missing rate limiting - the gap that turns weak auth into a credential stuffing problem.
- Mass assignment - the API equivalent of trusting client-supplied fields you never wanted to expose.
For the underlying risk taxonomy that API engagements report against, the OWASP API Security Top 10 framework reference covers API1 BOLA through API10 unsafe consumption with testing guidance, remediation notes, and the contrast between the 2019 and 2023 editions.
For a checklist-style walkthrough of an API engagement before kickoff, the API security testing checklist covers scoping, authentication setup, the scanner-plus-manual approach, and the report structure that holds up to remediation review.
If the API surface is part of a wider authenticated web application engagement, the security testing for web applications workflow runs in the same engagement so the rendered UI, the API, and the authentication layer share one record.
In-house product security functions running this as part of an ongoing programme can find a fuller view on the SecPortal for application security teams page, which covers DAST, SAST, SCA, pentest findings, and remediation tracking in one workspace.
How it works in SecPortal
A streamlined workflow from start to finish.
Capture the API surface and auth model
Open the engagement, document base URLs, environments (staging, prod), authentication mode (cookie, bearer, basic, form), and the API style (REST, GraphQL, gRPC behind HTTP). Store credentials with AES-256-GCM encryption so authenticated scans run against pages and endpoints behind the login screen rather than guessing at the surface.
Run authenticated scans against the API
Launch authenticated DAST against the API endpoints. Coverage includes injection, IDOR/BOLA paths, broken access control, missing rate limiting, and authentication weaknesses. Findings appear with auto-calculated CVSS 3.1 vectors, OWASP mappings, and remediation guidance from a 300+ template library so triage is fast and consistent.
Layer manual API testing on top
Log manual findings (business logic flaws, mass assignment, GraphQL introspection abuse, OAuth misconfiguration, JWT trust issues) inside the same engagement. Pair manual evidence (request, response, screenshot, payload) to each finding so the audit trail captures exactly how the issue was reproduced.
Triage with severity and assigned owners
Prioritise findings by CVSS severity, assign owners, and set SLAs by severity tier. Critical and high findings get tight remediation windows, lower severity items can be deferred or accepted with a written reason. Clients update fix status in the branded portal rather than over email.
Report, retest, and close
AI generates the executive summary, technical writeup, and remediation roadmap from the live API findings. Run retests against the original entries to verify fixes, regressions, and partial closures. The engagement record holds scope, evidence, fix description, retest result, and final outcome on one continuous timeline.
Features that power this workflow
Run API security testing as a tracked engagement
Authenticated scans, manual findings, retest tracking, and client delivery in one workspace. Start free.
No credit card required. Free plan available forever.