Understand Common REST API Security Risks
A public REST API can be exposed to several security threats.
Common risks include:
- Broken authentication.
- Broken object-level authorization.
- Broken function-level authorization.
- Injection attacks.
- Cross-site scripting in consuming applications.
- Excessive request rates.
- Sensitive data exposure.
- Mass assignment vulnerabilities.
- Unrestricted resource consumption.
Security should be implemented at multiple layers rather than relying on one middleware package.
Our application will combine authentication, authorization, validation, request limits, secure response handling, and database access restrictions.
Key Takeaways
API security requires multiple layers of protection.
Authentication and authorization failures are common API risks.
Never trust arbitrary client input.