Exploring authorization mechanisms

So, we’ve played with the AuthN part, but that’s just part of the party. After gaining access to the system, we need to have enough power to do a number of things a regular user could not do. However, it’s worth mentioning that even a regular user may have read-only access to sensitive data or other users’ data, depending on how the API’s AuthZ controls were implemented.

Exploring AuthZ mechanisms during API pentesting is crucial for identifying potential security vulnerabilities and ensuring that only authorized users or clients can access protected resources. AuthZ mechanisms define the rules and policies that govern access to API endpoints, data, and functionalities, and testing these mechanisms helps assess their effectiveness in enforcing access controls and preventing unauthorized access. Before going further into how we can explore API AuthZ mechanisms, we need to understand what they are. AuthZ mechanisms...