Check only websites, APIs, accounts, and environments you own or have explicit permission to assess. A useful initial review combines an agreed scope, hands-on checks, and carefully interpreted scan results; one checklist or scanner run cannot guarantee that a system is secure.
The process below helps website owners, developers, and security practitioners find common exposures without treating a generic risk list as proof that a particular site is vulnerable. Use test accounts and approved data, and avoid actions that could disrupt service or expose another person’s information.
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What a website or API security check can—and cannot—tell you
A structured review looks at how the application is configured and how its identity, authentication, authorization, sessions, inputs, errors, cryptography, business logic, and client-side behavior work. OWASP’s Web Security Testing Guide (WSTG) organizes testing across these areas, including API testing. Choose checks that fit the application and your organization’s requirements rather than treating every test as appropriate for every system.
A checklist names areas worth examining. A scanner or proxy may flag a possible issue. A confirmed vulnerability requires enough context to verify what happened, which identity and request were involved, and what the practical impact is. A clean scan does not establish that the application has no vulnerabilities.
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1. Define an authorized scope before testing
Write down what the assessment covers before sending test traffic. This makes it easier to avoid accidental testing of unrelated systems and to distinguish an unexpected result from a test that was never authorized.
- List the exact domains, hosts, API base paths, environments, and application versions in scope.
- Specify which accounts and roles may be used, which test data is approved, and the testing window.
- Include production only when it is specifically authorized. Prefer staging when it provides a representative, approved environment.
- Note rate limits, operational contacts, and any actions that could affect availability or data. Avoid destructive tests and requests that could access another person’s information.
These are practical safeguards for an authorized assessment, not a universal permission template. If the boundary is unclear, pause and get it clarified before testing.
2. Inventory the public pages, hosts, and API routes
Start with the application’s reachable surface: public pages, sign-in and account flows, in-scope subdomains, and API hosts. Record the routes and functions you can observe, including those used by the site’s own interface.
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Find available API descriptions, such as OpenAPI or Swagger documentation, and compare their listed routes and parameters with requests made by the application. Look for older API descriptions as well as current ones, since an earlier version may point to routes that are still active.
Documentation is a starting point, not a complete inventory. OWASP’s API reconnaissance guidance notes that public documentation can be inaccurate or incomplete and recommends identifying supported documented and undocumented endpoints and parameters. Use observed application traffic and approved access to supported backend routes to check what the documentation leaves out; do not probe systems outside your authorized scope.
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3. Review configuration and deployment exposure
Check whether the public deployment exposes more functionality or information than it needs. Review both the application’s reachable behavior and the configuration that controls it.
- Look for unnecessary HTTP methods, demo functionality, and leftover test code.
- Check for accessible source-control metadata, directory listings, sensitive files in public web paths, or internal API documentation exposed to unintended users.
- Review response headers for implementation details that do not need to be public.
- Check whether application and service accounts have only the privileges they need.
These checks align with OWASP’s secure-by-default guidance. A visible detail is not automatically an exploitable vulnerability, but unnecessary exposure deserves investigation and, where appropriate, removal.
4. Test authentication and authorization with approved accounts
Authentication asks whether an identity is valid; authorization asks what that identity is allowed to see or do. A login that works correctly does not prove that access controls are correctly enforced for every record, field, or function.
Check access to other users’ objects
Using only approved test accounts and data, check whether a user can access another test user’s record by changing an object identifier in an otherwise valid request. The relevant API risk is broken object-level authorization: the server must verify access to the requested object, not merely accept a syntactically valid identifier.
Check returned fields and permitted actions
Look for sensitive or restricted properties returned to a role that should not receive them, and for privileged functions callable by a lower-privilege identity. These are distinct checks: property-level authorization concerns which fields a caller may read or change, while function-level authorization concerns which actions that caller may perform. OWASP lists object-, property-, and function-level authorization separately in its API Security Top 10 (2023).
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5. Inspect requests, responses, inputs, and errors
Use browser developer tools or an authorized interception proxy to view representative requests and their raw responses. Compare what the page displays with what the server actually returned. A user interface may hide a response field that is still exposed to anyone who can make the request.
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Review how the application handles invalid inputs and exceptional conditions. Note whether responses reveal sensitive values or internal implementation details, and whether errors are handled consistently. Keep tests within the agreed scope; do not use destructive inputs against a live service without explicit authorization and safeguards.
6. Check API-specific risks beyond access control
APIs can have risks that are easy to miss in a page-by-page review. The OWASP API Security Top 10 (2023) provides a taxonomy to guide testing—not a finding about any particular API.
| Risk area | What to examine in an authorized review |
|---|---|
| API1: Broken Object Level Authorization | Whether the caller can access an object belonging to another user or tenant. |
| API2: Broken Authentication | Whether identity checks and authentication flows behave as intended. |
| API3: Broken Object Property Level Authorization | Whether callers can read or change properties beyond their permissions. |
| API4: Unrestricted Resource Consumption | Whether requests can consume excessive resources without appropriate limits. |
| API5: Broken Function Level Authorization | Whether a caller can invoke functions reserved for another role. |
| API6: Unrestricted Access to Sensitive Business Flows | Whether important business operations can be abused because access or usage controls are inadequate. |
| API7: Server Side Request Forgery | Whether user-controlled input can cause the server to make unintended requests. |
| API8: Security Misconfiguration | Whether exposed defaults, unsafe settings, or unnecessary functionality create avoidable risk. |
| API9: Improper Inventory Management | Whether active routes, hosts, and versions are missing from the maintained inventory. |
| API10: Unsafe Consumption of APIs | Whether data received from other APIs is trusted or handled unsafely. |
Test resource limits and sensitive business flows cautiously, especially in production. Establish safe request volumes and test conditions with the system owner; do not try to exhaust a service or perform real transactions without explicit approval.
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7. Use scanners as one input, then validate each finding
Automated scans can help identify potential configuration problems and common patterns, while a proxy can make request-and-response behavior easier to inspect. Neither replaces checks that depend on a user’s role, the meaning of a business operation, or whether returned data is appropriate for that user.
| Approach | Useful for | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| Manual checklist guided by the WSTG | Structuring checks across configuration, identity, authorization, input handling, and other application areas. | Coverage depends on selecting and carrying out relevant tests; a checklist alone does not verify a specific issue. |
| Browser developer tools | Observing requests and raw responses generated during normal use of the application. | Traffic observed in one workflow or role does not establish how other roles or routes behave. |
| Authorized interception proxy, such as Burp Suite or ZAP | Inspecting and comparing requests and responses during approved testing. | Findings still need context and validation; tool use does not prove that unflagged behavior is safe. |
| Automated scanner | Surfacing potential issues and making repeat checks more consistent. | A scan covers only what it can reach and recognize; it may miss application-specific access-control or business-logic problems. |
For each finding, record the affected route, request, account role, expected behavior, observed behavior, potential impact, and a remediation recommendation. Confirm that the result is reproducible and meaningful before calling it a vulnerability. OWASP’s WSTG supplies testing objectives and methods; it does not say that any particular tool run proves the absence of vulnerabilities.
8. Prioritize fixes, retest, and keep the inventory current
Prioritize confirmed exposures by their impact and reachability. Fix the underlying configuration or application behavior, then repeat the relevant check using the same approved role and conditions. Keep the API inventory and test cases current as routes, roles, configuration, and dependencies change. A review describes what was checked at a point in time; it is not a permanent security guarantee.
How to use OWASP risk lists
Risk taxonomies help you decide what to investigate, but their category order is not a measurement of prevalence and their labels are not a diagnosis of your site. The OWASP web list and API list cover different scopes.
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Broad web application risks
OWASP Top 10:2025 lists these web application categories: A01 Broken Access Control; A02 Security Misconfiguration; A03 Software Supply Chain Failures; A04 Cryptographic Failures; A05 Injection; A06 Insecure Design; A07 Authentication Failures; A08 Software or Data Integrity Failures; A09 Security Logging and Alerting Failures; and A10 Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions. Use them to plan areas to examine, not to claim that an untested category is present or absent in your application.
API risks
The OWASP API Security Top 10 (2023) focuses on API risks, including authorization, authentication, resource consumption, sensitive business flows, server-side request forgery, configuration, inventory management, and unsafe consumption of other APIs. Use that taxonomy alongside the broader web checks when the system exposes APIs; neither list substitutes for testing the behavior of the application you actually operate.
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