What does API penetration testing include?

OWASP API Top 10 manual testing: BOLA, BFLA, broken auth, excessive data exposure, mass assignment, server-side request forgery, security misconfiguration, injection. Tests REST, GraphQL, gRPC, SOAP. Authenticated + unauthenticated state.

Do you test GraphQL specifically?

Yes. GraphQL-specific risks: introspection abuse, query batching DoS, deeply-nested query DoS, alias overload, field-level authorization bypass, mutation chaining for privilege escalation.

Findings with PoC request + response, fix code at endpoint + middleware level, CVSS scoring, and a CREST-approved report acceptable to your auditor.

Why now

Window from vulnerability discovery to exploitation has gone from weeks to hours.

API penetration testing,production traffic, real exploits.

REST, GraphQL, gRPC, SOAP, WebSocket. We find broken object-level authorization, JWT abuse, mass-assignment, and chained business-logic flaws that gateways and scanners miss. Every finding ships with a working request, a proof-of-exploit, and a re-test.

Research-driven testing. Audit-ready reports.

Read a sample finding

API penetration testing flow: surface mapping, auth probe, BOLA testing, business-logic chain, proof-of-exploit

Full attack surface coverage

Authentication, business logic, API endpoints, session management, not just OWASP Top 10.

Working proof-of-exploit

Every finding includes a reproducible PoC and video, developer-ready, not just a CVSS score.

Re-test included

We verify your fixes at no extra cost. One engagement, closed-loop, not a revolving invoice.

Trusted by security teams across Fintech, SaaS & Education, Enterprise & Telecom, Security & Critical Infrastructure

Scope.

Every API class we test.

Eight named surfaces, picked per your stack.

BOLA & object-level auth

Broken object-level authorization across REST IDs, GraphQL nodes, and key-based lookups. Anonymous to tenant data, tenant to admin.

BFLA & function-level auth

Admin endpoints reachable as a regular user. Hidden routes mapped from JS bundles and mobile binaries.

JWT, OAuth, and session abuse

alg=none, kid confusion, scope downgrade, refresh-token replay, PKCE bypass, token sidejacking through CORS.

Mass assignment & data exposure

Body-bound fields overwriting admin properties. Verbose responses leaking PII, secrets, internal IDs.

Injection chains

SQL, NoSQL, LDAP, command, template, and prototype-pollution through JSON, form, and header inputs.

GraphQL

Introspection leakage, batched-query DoS, schema-query amplification, broken auth on resolver fields, mutation chaining.

Business-logic abuse

Race conditions on payment, account merge, role assignment. Rate-limit bypass through case/encoding tricks.

gRPC, SOAP, WebSocket

Protobuf field abuse, reflection-API leaks, channel auth gaps, stream injection, SOAP XXE, WS upgrade hijack.

Accreditations.

API ATTACK SURFACE.

What an API pentest catches that a gateway, a SAST tool, or an OWASP-Top-10 scanner cannot.

01
BOLA to tenant data
Object-reference flaws plus weak session validation, anonymous to cross-tenant read.
02
BFLA to admin
Hidden admin endpoints reachable as a regular user, mapped from JS bundle reverse-engineering.
03
JWT alg confusion
alg=none, kid confusion, refresh-token replay, PKCE downgrade across OAuth flows.
04
Mass assignment to RCE
Body-bound fields overwrite admin properties, escalate into deserialization sinks.
05
GraphQL introspection abuse
Schema discovery, batched-query amplification, broken resolver auth on private mutations.
06
Business-logic race
Time-of-check race against payment, account merge, coupon claim, role assignment.
07
SSRF to cloud role
Server-side request forgery into IMDS for AWS role assumption from anonymous API endpoints.

API PENTEST METHODOLOGY.

Eight phases. Every finding verified closed-loop.

Scoped to your API stack, not a generic checklist.

Discovery and surface map

Enumerate endpoints from documentation, JS bundles, mobile binaries, and traffic capture. No hidden route stays hidden.

Auth and AuthZ probe

Test every authentication flow: OAuth, JWT, API keys, session cookies. Confirm tenant boundaries, role boundaries, scope boundaries.

Object-level testing

BOLA, IDOR, predictable identifiers, key replay across users and tenants. The largest single bug class in real APIs.

Function-level testing

BFLA across roles and tiers. Admin routes reachable as user, paid features reachable as free, hidden routes reachable as anonymous.

Injection and parser abuse

SQL, NoSQL, LDAP, command, template, prototype pollution. Fuzz body, query, header, and path. Multi-stage where the surface allows.

Business-logic and rate-limit

Race conditions on financial endpoints, rate-limit bypass through encoding tricks, workflow abuse on multi-step processes.

Chained findings

Combine low-severity issues into a single proof-of-exploit that lands at admin or pivots to cloud.

Re-test and closure

Free re-test after fixes. Written attestation per finding, regulator-ready PDF for SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / CERT-In auditors.

BugDazz Autonomous.

Continuous API security between engagements.

When the engagement closes, BugDazz keeps watching the surface. Auth flaws, BOLA, new endpoints, schema drift, mass-assignment regressions, all caught the day they ship.

See the autonomous platform

Auth and AuthZ regressions

BOLA, BFLA, JWT misconfig flagged on every deploy.

Schema drift

New endpoints, new params, new mutations surfaced as they ship.

Mass-assignment watch

Body-bound writes monitored against the admin-property list.

Re-test on demand

One click to re-verify a finding after your fix lands.

Deliverables.

A report your auditor accepts. Your developers can act on.

Working request payload per finding, code-level fix guidance, a re-test to confirm the patch. CREST-aligned, accepted by SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and FedRAMP auditors.

CREST-accredited report. Accepted by:

FedRAMP

Reproducible PoC + Video

Every finding ships with a working exploit and screen recording. Your developers see exactly what an attacker sees, no guesswork, no chasing us for clarification.

Code-Level Fix Guidance

Remediation written for engineers, not auditors. Specific code changes, library recommendations, and config fixes, not a list of CWEs to Google.

Re-test Included

Every finding is re-tested once your team ships the fix, at no extra cost. One engagement, closed loop. You get written confirmation, not just a closed ticket.

Compliance-Ready Report

CREST-accredited report accepted by SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and HIPAA auditors out of the box. No re-scoping, no addenda, no extra calls with your audit team.

Insights.

Recent API research from the SL7 lab.

Published CVE advisories, methodology updates, and write-ups from API engagements.

API authentication bypass write-up cover

API authentication bypass + secure-token patterns

How attackers bypass authentication on poorly-designed token systems, and what a correct design looks like.

Mitigating API injection attacks

Input-validation patterns that hold up against SQLi, NoSQLi, and command injection through API endpoints.

Unrestricted resource consumption (API4)

OWASP API4. Rate-limit and quota bypass classes we routinely chain into larger findings.

John Dill

vCISO at SecureLayer7

15+

Years in offensive security

150+

Engagements led to date

99.99%

On-time engagement delivery

John scopes API engagements from the buyer's threat model, then carries findings through to detection-engineering handoff. He has led CREST-conducted API operations against fintech, SaaS, healthcare, and government APIs.

Leads CREST-conducted API engagements from scoping to re-test.
Translates BOLA, BFLA, and chained findings into board-level risk decisions.
Owns post-engagement handoff to your API gateway and runtime defense team.

SL7 Lab. Published CVE research.

Ready to scope an API pentest? Book a 30-minute call with John.

Book a 30-min call

Common procurement questions.

What buyers askbefore a first engagement.

Show all 6 questions

Have a procurement question we did not answer?

For startups.

Need this before your next SOC 2 audit.

Five-day API pentest with re-test, CREST-aligned attestation, and a flat startup price. Built for teams that have to close a Series A audit or an enterprise procurement deal next quarter.

See the startup program

Tested by industry.

The bug classes named below come from real engagements in each sector. Pick the closest fit.

FinTech

Open-banking, OAuth-2, payment-rail APIs, and AA consent boundaries.

See FinTech pentest

HealthTech

FHIR R4 endpoints, HL7 v2 interfaces, telehealth APIs, EHR integrations.

See HealthTech pentest

Tech SaaS

Multi-tenant isolation, webhook signing, SCIM provisioning, admin APIs.

See Tech SaaS pentest

Sample WAPT penetration test report, SecureLayer7

Sample engagement report.

Request a sample API pentest report.

A senior consultant will share a redacted sample after a quick scoping intake. Sent within one business day.