API Penetration Testing Services

API penetration testing focuses on the backend services, authentication, authorization, and business logic of your APIs, testing how they handle requests, process data, and enforce permissions. Web application testing covers the user interface, client-side code, and how users interact with your application through a browser. APIs often handle sensitive data and business-critical functions without the visibility of a UI, which makes them attractive targets. Most modern applications need both.

Yes. Undocumented APIs are often the most vulnerable because they receive less security scrutiny. We use traffic analysis, reverse engineering, and dynamic testing to discover and map undocumented endpoints, parameters, and functionality. We test REST, GraphQL, SOAP, gRPC, and custom protocols whether documentation exists or not.

Not when done properly. We craft requests carefully to avoid triggering rate limits, exhausting resources, or corrupting data. We work with your team to establish testing windows, throttle our request rate, and use dedicated test accounts when possible. For sensitive production environments, we can test against staging or development instances. We typically recommend at least some production testing because staging configurations often differ from production in ways that hide real-world vulnerabilities.

For authentication, we evaluate token generation, session management, password policies, MFA implementation, and credential transmission. For authorization, we test role-based access controls, privilege escalation paths, broken object-level authorization (BOLA, the #1 OWASP API risk), and broken function-level authorization. We create multiple test accounts at different privilege levels and systematically attempt to bypass authorization checks, access other users' data, and perform unauthorized operations.

Yes. We test APIs using your existing authentication mechanisms, including OAuth tokens, JWT, API keys, SAML assertions, and custom schemes. You can provide test credentials, or we can work with your team to generate them. We also test the security of the authentication mechanism itself, including weak token generation, insufficient validation, token leakage, and session management flaws.

Broken object-level authorization (BOLA), excessive data exposure, missing rate limits, injection flaws (SQL, NoSQL, command injection through API parameters), business logic abuse, mass assignment, security misconfigurations, and improper inventory management (old API versions still routing traffic alongside newer ones). These map directly to the OWASP API Security Top 10:2023.

Yes. GraphQL has unique security considerations, including introspection exposure that reveals your entire schema, query depth and complexity attacks that exhaust resources, batch query abuse, field-level authorization gaps, alias-based rate limit bypasses, and information leakage through field suggestions. Our team has extensive experience with GraphQL security and tests it as a distinct attack surface, not as a variation of REST.

A simple API with 10-20 endpoints typically takes one to two weeks. Mid-complexity APIs with 50+ endpoints, multiple authentication methods, and complex business logic typically take two to three weeks. Enterprise-scale API ecosystems with hundreds of endpoints, microservices, and extensive functionality can take three to six weeks or more. We provide a detailed timeline during scoping. For organizations with continuous deployment, we also offer ongoing API testing through Raxis Attack PTaaS.

At minimum, endpoint URLs, authentication credentials for test accounts, and ideally API documentation (Swagger or OpenAPI specs, Postman collections, or similar). Helpful additions include expected request and response formats, business logic workflows, role definitions, and any operations you want us to avoid. We can also test with minimal documentation, approaching your API the way an attacker would, to surface undocumented endpoints and functionality. Less information makes the simulation more realistic but extends the timeline.

Scoping starts with a 30-minute conversation. We need a rough sense of API count, endpoint count per API, authentication mechanisms, role complexity, and the business logic at stake. We can scope from documentation, from a brief technical walkthrough, or both. Most engagements move from scoping conversation to formal proposal within a few days. API testing can also be bundled with our broader penetration testing services.

Most API penetration tests range from around $5,000 for a focused, single-API assessment to $50,000 or more for enterprise API ecosystems with hundreds of endpoints, multiple authentication schemes, and complex business logic. Endpoint count, the number of user roles to test, and the depth of business logic are what drive scope. We provide a fixed quote after a short scoping conversation, and retesting after remediation is included, not billed separately.