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APIs are the front door to almost everything now. It is also the place where "internal only" turns out to be public more often than you'd like. This is what to test, header by header, endpoint by endpoint, before someone else does.
What's inside?
Two checklists in one, across 15 device and infrastructure types:
The audit checklist - input validation, content-type validation, authentication rules, JWT specifics, management endpoint hardening, API key handling, error handling, audit logging, and safe output.
The pentest checklist - IDOR, SQL injection, command injection, XML entity injection, parameter tampering, unhandled HTTP methods, API fuzzing, file upload flaws, XML bombs, session fixation, signature wrapping, and replay attacks.
The tool stack - Burp, ZAP, SQLmap, Commix, Fuzzapi, SOAP UI, and the rest, matched to what each test actually needs.
What you’ll learn
By the end, you'll be able to:
Lock down JWTs and API keys correctly the first time, without reinventing auth badly.
Configure content types, HTTP methods, and response headers so your API stops leaking its stack in error messages.
Run the specific injection and auth tests every API pentest should include, and know which tool runs which one.
Protect management endpoints without accidentally exposing them, and rate-limit endpoints so credential-stuffing goes nowhere.
Ship an API that survives OWASP API Top 10, not just passes a smoke test.
API vulnerabilities have climbed nearly 19% year-over-year since 2018. Every new endpoint adds a new attack surface, and most teams don't test theirs.
Who’s this for?
Read this if you're a…
Backend or platform engineer shipping APIs and want a checklist that assumes JWTs and OAuth are the starting line.
API product owner who needs to know what "secured" means in the security team's language.
Security engineer scoping an API pentest and wants it to cover more than "SQLi and IDOR."