tomevault-io API Security
Comprehensive guide to securing APIs - authentication, authorization, and protection against common vulnerabilities.
When to Use This Skill
- Implementing API authentication (OAuth, OIDC, JWT)
- Designing authorization models for APIs
- Securing API endpoints
- Understanding API security vulnerabilities
- Implementing rate limiting and abuse prevention
- API key management
Authentication Patterns
OAuth 2.0 Flows
OAuth 2.0 Grant Types:
1. Authorization Code (with PKCE)
└── Best for: Web apps, mobile apps, SPAs
└── Most secure for user authentication
User ──► Auth Server ──► Authorization Code ──► Token
2. Client Credentials
└── Best for: Service-to-service (M2M)
└── No user context, server-to-server
Service ──► Auth Server ──► Access Token
3. Device Authorization (Device Flow)
└── Best for: Smart TVs, IoT, limited input devices
└── User authorizes on separate device
Device ──► Show Code ──► User enters on phone ──► Token
Deprecated (avoid):
- Implicit flow (security issues)
- Resource Owner Password Credentials (anti-pattern)
Authorization Code Flow with PKCE
┌──────────┐ ┌───────────────┐
│ Client │ │ Auth Server │
└────┬─────┘ └───────┬───────┘
│ │
│ 1. Generate code_verifier (random) │
│ 2. Compute code_challenge = SHA256(verifier)
│ │
│──3. Authorization Request ───────────────►│
│ (client_id, redirect_uri, │
│ code_challenge, challenge_method) │
│ │
│◄──4. Authorization Code ──────────────────│
│ (after user authentication/consent) │
│ │
│──5. Token Request ───────────────────────►│
│ (code, code_verifier) │
│ │
│◄──6. Access Token + Refresh Token ────────│
│ │
Why PKCE?
- Prevents authorization code interception attacks
- Required for mobile apps and SPAs
- Recommended for all OAuth flows
OpenID Connect (OIDC)
OIDC = OAuth 2.0 + Identity Layer
OIDC adds:
├── ID Token (JWT with user claims)
├── UserInfo endpoint
├── Standardized claims (sub, name, email, etc.)
└── Discovery and metadata
Token Types:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ID Token │
│ - User identity (who they are) │
│ - Contains claims about authentication │
│ - For the CLIENT to consume │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Access Token │
│ - Authorization (what they can do) │
│ - For the API/resource server to validate │
│ - Should NOT be parsed by client │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Refresh Token │
│ - Long-lived credential │
│ - Used to obtain new access tokens │
│ - Store securely, never expose to browser │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
JWT Structure:
Header.Payload.Signature
Header (Base64URL):
{
"alg": "RS256", // Algorithm
"typ": "JWT", // Type
"kid": "key-123" // Key ID for rotation
}
Payload (Base64URL):
{
"iss": "https://auth.example.com", // Issuer
"sub": "user-12345", // Subject
"aud": "https://api.example.com", // Audience
"exp": 1735689600, // Expiration
"iat": 1735686000, // Issued at
"scope": "read write" // Scopes/permissions
}
Signature:
RSASHA256(
base64UrlEncode(header) + "." + base64UrlEncode(payload),
privateKey
)
JWT Validation
JWT Validation Checklist:
1. Signature Verification
□ Verify using correct public key (from JWKS)
□ Reject if signature invalid
2. Claims Validation
□ iss (issuer): Matches expected issuer
□ aud (audience): Contains your API identifier
□ exp (expiration): Token not expired
□ iat (issued at): Not issued in the future
□ nbf (not before): Token is active
3. Additional Checks
□ Token not in revocation list (if applicable)
□ Required scopes present
□ Token type is access_token (not id_token)
Common Mistakes:
❌ Trusting "alg": "none"
❌ Not validating audience
❌ Using symmetric keys for public APIs
❌ Storing sensitive data in JWT payload
Authorization Patterns
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
RBAC Model:
Users ──► Roles ──► Permissions
Example:
┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Role: editor │
├──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Permissions: │
│ - articles:read │
│ - articles:create │
│ - articles:update │
│ - comments:moderate │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘
API Implementation:
GET /articles ← Requires: articles:read
POST /articles ← Requires: articles:create
PUT /articles/{id} ← Requires: articles:update
DELETE /articles/{id} ← Requires: articles:delete
Token includes:
{
"scope": "articles:read articles:create articles:update"
}
Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)
ABAC Model:
Access = f(Subject, Resource, Action, Environment)
Subject Attributes:
- Role, department, clearance level
- User ID, group membership
Resource Attributes:
- Owner, classification, type
- Created date, sensitivity
Action Attributes:
- Read, write, delete, approve
Environment Attributes:
- Time of day, IP address, device type
Example Policy:
"Allow if user.department == resource.department
AND user.role == 'manager'
AND action == 'approve'
AND environment.time.isBusinessHours"
Resource-Based Authorization
Check ownership/access at resource level:
GET /documents/{id}
Authorization Check:
1. Validate token (authentication)
2. Extract user from token
3. Query: Can this user access this document?
- Is user the owner?
- Does user have explicit permission?
- Is document in a shared folder user can access?
- Is user in a group with access?
4. Return 403 if not authorized
Implementation Pattern:
async function authorize(userId, resourceId, action) {
// Check direct ownership
if (await isOwner(userId, resourceId)) return true;
// Check explicit permissions
if (await hasPermission(userId, resourceId, action)) return true;
// Check group permissions
if (await hasGroupPermission(userId, resourceId, action)) return true;
return false;
}
API Key Security
API Key Best Practices
API Key Design:
Format: prefix_randomBytes
Example: sk_live_a1b2c3d4e5f6...
Prefix Benefits:
- sk_ = secret key (server-side only)
- pk_ = public key (can be exposed)
- test_ = test environment
- live_ = production
Security Requirements:
□ Sufficient entropy (32+ bytes random)
□ Secure storage (hashed, not plaintext)
□ Scoped permissions (not all-or-nothing)
□ Rotation capability
□ Audit logging
□ Rate limiting per key
API Key vs OAuth
When to Use Each:
API Keys:
✓ Service-to-service integration
✓ Simple use cases
✓ Developer-facing APIs
✓ Stateless, simple auth
✗ Not for user context
✗ Hard to revoke in real-time
OAuth 2.0:
✓ User-delegated access
✓ Fine-grained scopes
✓ Short-lived tokens
✓ Revocation support
✓ Standard compliance
✗ More complex to implement
✗ Requires authorization server
Common Vulnerabilities
OWASP API Security Top 10
1. Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA)
Problem: Accessing other users' resources by changing IDs
Fix: Always verify user has access to specific resource
❌ GET /users/123/orders (any user can change 123)
✓ Verify requesting user can access user 123's orders
2. Broken Authentication
Problem: Weak authentication mechanisms
Fix: Use proven auth protocols, implement properly
❌ Custom token schemes, weak passwords
✓ OAuth 2.0/OIDC with MFA
3. Broken Object Property Level Authorization
Problem: Exposing sensitive properties
Fix: Filter response based on authorization
❌ Returning user.password_hash in API response
✓ Explicitly select fields to return
4. Unrestricted Resource Consumption
Problem: No limits on requests/data
Fix: Rate limiting, pagination, resource quotas
❌ GET /users returns 10 million records
✓ Pagination, query limits, rate limiting
5. Broken Function Level Authorization
Problem: Missing authorization on endpoints
Fix: Verify authorization for every function
❌ Admin endpoints accessible to regular users
✓ Role checks on all endpoints
6. Unrestricted Access to Sensitive Business Flows
Problem: Business logic abuse
Fix: Detect and limit abuse patterns
❌ Unlimited password reset attempts
✓ Rate limit + CAPTCHA on sensitive flows
7. Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
Problem: API fetches attacker-controlled URLs
Fix: Validate and sanitize URLs, allowlist
❌ POST /fetch { "url": "http://internal-service" }
✓ Validate against allowlist, block internal IPs
8. Security Misconfiguration
Problem: Default configs, exposed errors
Fix: Harden configuration, minimal errors
❌ Detailed stack traces in production
✓ Generic error messages, proper headers
9. Improper Inventory Management
Problem: Untracked API versions, shadow APIs
Fix: API inventory, version management
❌ Old API versions still accessible
✓ Inventory, lifecycle management, deprecation
10. Unsafe Consumption of APIs
Problem: Trusting third-party API responses
Fix: Validate all external data
❌ Directly using third-party response data
✓ Validate, sanitize, treat as untrusted
Input Validation
Validation Layers:
1. Syntax Validation
- Is it valid JSON/XML?
- Are required fields present?
- Are field types correct?
2. Semantic Validation
- Is email format valid?
- Is date in valid range?
- Does ID reference exist?
3. Business Rule Validation
- Is quantity within limits?
- Is user authorized for this action?
- Does the state transition make sense?
Validation Patterns:
- Allowlist over blocklist
- Validate on input AND output
- Fail safely with clear errors
- Log validation failures for monitoring
Transport Security
TLS Requirements
TLS Configuration:
Minimum: TLS 1.2
Preferred: TLS 1.3
Required Settings:
□ Strong cipher suites only
□ Perfect forward secrecy (ECDHE)
□ Valid certificates from trusted CA
□ HSTS header enabled
□ Certificate transparency
Headers:
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
Certificate Pinning
Certificate Pinning (Mobile/Embedded):
Purpose: Prevent MITM attacks even with compromised CAs
Options:
1. Pin certificate
- Requires update for certificate rotation
2. Pin public key
- Survives certificate renewal
- More flexible
3. Pin intermediate CA
- Balance of security and flexibility
Considerations:
- Always have backup pins
- Plan for rotation
- Handle failures gracefully
- Consider using dynamic pinning
Rate Limiting and Abuse Prevention
Rate Limiting Strategies:
By Identity:
- Per API key
- Per user ID
- Per client ID
By Resource:
- Per endpoint
- Per operation type
- Per resource ID
Headers (draft standard):
RateLimit-Limit: 100
RateLimit-Remaining: 95
RateLimit-Reset: 1735689600
Retry-After: 60
Response Codes:
429 Too Many Requests - Rate limit exceeded
503 Service Unavailable - Server overloaded
Abuse Prevention:
□ Rate limiting
□ Request size limits
□ CAPTCHA for sensitive operations
□ Behavioral analysis
□ IP reputation
□ Anomaly detection
Security Headers
Essential API Security Headers:
# Prevent MIME type sniffing
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
# Control caching of sensitive data
Cache-Control: no-store, private
# CORS configuration (be restrictive)
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: https://trusted.example.com
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST
Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization, Content-Type
# Frame protection (if serving HTML)
X-Frame-Options: DENY
# Content Security Policy (if serving HTML)
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'none'
Related Skills
zero-trust-architecture- Overall security architecturemtls-service-mesh- Service-to-service securityrate-limiting-patterns- Detailed rate limiting strategiessecrets-management- Managing API keys and secrets
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