API Documentation Retrieval
API documentation retrieval, in the context of cybersecurity, is the process of locating and obtaining files or resources that describe the structure, functionality, and usage of an Application Programming Interface (API). This documentation is crucial for understanding how to interact with the API, which is essential for both legitimate use and security analysis.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Finding Documentation Sources: This involves searching for locations where API documentation is available. Common sources include:
Standard URLs: Many APIs serve documentation at predictable endpoints (e.g., /docs, /swagger.json, /openapi.yaml).
Developer Portals: Organizations often provide dedicated websites with documentation for their APIs.
Code Repositories: Documentation may be included in the API's source code.
API Gateways: Some API management platforms can provide or link to API documentation.
Identifying Documentation Formats: API documentation can come in various formats:
OpenAPI Specification (OAS): A standard, machine-readable format for describing RESTful APIs.
Swagger UI: An interactive HTML-based documentation interface generated from OAS.
RAML: RESTful API Modeling Language.
API Blueprint: A markdown-based format for documenting APIs.
Human-readable Documentation: Text files, PDFs, or web pages explaining how to use the API.
Retrieving Documentation: Once the source is identified, the relevant documentation must be retrieved. This might involve:
Sending HTTP requests to specific URLs.
Downloading files.
Parsing HTML or other web page content.
Security Significance: API documentation retrieval is important for cybersecurity for several reasons:
It provides a clear map of the API's functionality, which helps security professionals understand the attack surface.
Attackers can use documentation to identify potential vulnerabilities or ways to exploit the API.
It enables more efficient security testing and analysis.
Here's how ThreatNG can assist with API documentation retrieval in a cybersecurity context:
ThreatNG's external discovery capabilities are crucial for locating potential sources of API documentation. It can scan an organization's entire web presence to identify various locations where documentation might reside. This broad discovery is essential because API documentation can be found in multiple locations, ranging from standard URLs to less obvious places within web applications.
While ThreatNG doesn't have a specific "API documentation retrieval assessment," its assessment features provide context that enhances the value of documentation retrieval for security purposes:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: If ThreatNG identifies vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to hijack a web application, having API documentation becomes more critical. Attackers can use the documentation to understand how to exploit those vulnerabilities.
Cyber Risk Exposure: ThreatNG's assessment of cyber risk, which includes analyzing subdomain headers and vulnerabilities, helps prioritize the review of API documentation. For example, if ThreatNG finds an API on a subdomain with known vulnerabilities, the documentation for that API should be examined more closely.
3. Reporting
ThreatNG's reporting capabilities can present information about discovered API documentation, including its location and the APIs it describes. This helps security teams organize their findings and understand the scope of their API landscape.
The reports also include essential context, like risk levels, reasoning, and recommendations, to help organizations understand and address API-related security concerns.
ThreatNG's continuous monitoring of the external attack surface is valuable because API documentation can change or be updated frequently. Constant monitoring ensures that security teams are aware of the latest documentation, which is crucial for accurate security assessments.
ThreatNG's investigation modules provide specific capabilities that aid in API documentation retrieval:
Domain Overview: This module is particularly relevant because it identifies related SwaggerHub instances that provide interactive API documentation and specifications. SwaggerHub is a platform for designing, building, and documenting APIs, making it a key source for API documentation.
Subdomain Intelligence: This module can discover subdomains where API documentation might be hosted. It can also identify API endpoints, which helps locate corresponding documentation.
Archived Web Pages: This module can retrieve older versions of web pages, which may contain previous versions of API documentation that can be valuable for historical analysis or identifying changes in the API.
While ThreatNG's intelligence repositories do not directly store API documentation, they provide context that is important for assessing the risk associated with APIs. For example, knowing about compromised credentials can help security teams understand the potential impact if those credentials are used to access APIs described in retrieved documentation.
7. Working with Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG can enhance the effectiveness of other security tools by providing them with information about API documentation:
API testing tools: ThreatNG can provide a list of URLs or locations where API documentation is found. These tools can then utilize this documentation to generate test cases and automatically validate API functionality.
Vulnerability scanners: ThreatNG can help vulnerability scanners by identifying the presence of APIs and their associated documentation, allowing the scanners to focus their efforts on assessing the API's security.
8. Examples of ThreatNG Helping
ThreatNG identifies API documentation on a non-standard URL that was previously missed by security audits.
ThreatNG identifies an older version of the API documentation that reveals deprecated API endpoints with known vulnerabilities.
ThreatNG's continuous monitoring detects the deployment of new API documentation, prompting a security review to ensure the API is implemented securely.
9. Examples of ThreatNG Working with Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG provides the URL of an OpenAPI Specification file to an API testing tool, which then uses the file to generate security tests for the API automatically.
ThreatNG identifies an API and its associated documentation, which is then used by a vulnerability scanner to focus its analysis on the API's authentication and authorization mechanisms.
