🧞‍♀️API Security Cheat Sheet PART - 2

Extended Authentication Techniques and Their Security Implications

Unicode in Credentials
```
{
  "login": "\u0061\u0064\u006D\u0069\u006E",
  "password": "\u0070\u0061\u0073\u0073\u0077\u006F\u0072\u0064"
}
```
Description: This scenario uses Unicode representations for credentials, emphasizing the need for APIs to interpret and handle Unicode correctly to maintain security integrity.
Credentials with Escape Characters
```
{
  "login": "ad\\nmin",
  "password": "pa\\ssword"
}
```
Description: Features escape characters within credentials, pointing to the necessity of accurately processing escape sequences to prevent security loopholes.
Credentials with White Space
```
{
  "login": " ",
  "password": " "
}
```
Description: Demonstrates credentials consisting of white space, highlighting the importance of trimming and handling empty or space-only strings in authentication systems.
Overlong Values in Credentials
```
{
  "login": "a"*10000,
  "password": "b"*10000
}
```
Description: Involves excessively long strings, underscoring the need for input length validation to protect against buffer overflow attacks.
Malformed JSON (Missing Brace)
```
{"login": "admin",
"password": "admin"
```
Description: Represents a case of malformed JSON due to a missing brace, indicating the significance of robust JSON parsing and error handling.
Malformed JSON (Extra Comma)
```
{
  "login": "admin",
  "password": "admin",
}
```
Description: Another example of malformed JSON with an extra comma, requiring careful JSON structure validation.
Missing 'login' Key
```
{
  "password": "admin"
}
```
Description: Highlights a scenario where the 'login' key is missing, emphasizing the need for complete credential checks.
Missing 'password' Key
```
{
  "login": "admin"
}
```
Description: Focuses on the absence of the 'password' key, underlining the importance of ensuring both login and password fields are present for authentication.
Swapped Key Values
```
{
  "admin": "login",
  "password": "password"
}
```
Description: Illustrates a situation where key names are swapped with values, pointing out the necessity of correct key-value pairing in JSON structures.
Extra Keys in Credentials
```
{
  "login": "admin",
  "password": "admin",
  "extra": "extra"
}
```
Description: Showcases additional, unnecessary keys, stressing the importance of validating expected keys in authentication payloads.

This extended cheat sheet serves as a guide for developers and security professionals to understand and prepare for a wide range of authentication scenarios in API security. Each point illustrates a different challenge or potential vulnerability, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive and meticulous handling of authentication data in APIs to maintain robust security.

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Last updated 2 years ago