🧞‍♂️API Security Cheat Sheet PART - 5

Varied Authentication Techniques and Their Security Implications

1. Tab Characters in Strings

   {"login": "ad\tmin",
    "password": "pa\tssword"}

   Description: Incorporates tab characters, demonstrating the need to handle or sanitize special character sequences.

2. Test with HTML Content in Strings

   {"login": "<b>admin",
    "password": "password"}

   Description: Uses HTML tags, underscoring the importance of protecting against Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and similar attacks.

3. JSON Injection in Strings

   {"login": "{\"injection\":\"value\"}",
    "password": "password"}

   Description: Shows the possibility of JSON injection, highlighting the need for careful parsing and validation of JSON strings.

4. Test with XML Content in Strings

   {"login": "admin",
    "password": "<xml>password</xml>"}

   Description: Utilizes XML tags in strings, pointing to the necessity of handling different data formats securely.

5. Combination of Number, Strings, and Special Characters

   {"login": "ad123min!@",
    "password": "pa55w0rd!@"}

   Description: Features a mix of alphanumeric and special characters, emphasizing the need for robust character handling.

6. Floating Numbers as Strings

   {"login": "123.456",
    "password": "789.123"}

   Description: Uses floating-point numbers as strings, stressing the importance of versatile data type interpretation.

7. Value as a Combination of Languages

   {"login": "adminव्यवसायापक",
    "password": "passwordपासवर्ड"}

   Description: Combines English and Hindi characters, showcasing the challenge of multilingual data handling.

8. Non-ASCII Characters in Strings

   {"login": "∆admin∆",
    "password": "∆password∆"}

   Description: Involves non-ASCII characters, illustrating the need for international character set support.

9. Single Character Keys and Values

   {"l": "a",
    "p": "p"}

   Description: Utilizes single-character keys and values, demonstrating the necessity to handle minimalistic JSON structures.

10. Use of Environment Variables

    {"login": "${USER}",
     "password": "${PASS}"}

    Description: Features environment variables as values, indicating the need for careful evaluation of variable substitution in credentials.

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This extensive list of API authentication scenarios aims to provide developers and security professionals with insights into a multitude of potential security challenges. Each scenario underscores the need for comprehensive validation, sanitization, and handling of a wide range of data types, formats, and structures. This vigilance is crucial in creating and maintaining secure API environments.