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BOLA

Overview: Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA) in API Security​

What is BOLA?​

Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA) is one of the most critical API security vulnerabilities, where an attacker can manipulate API requests to gain unauthorized access to other users' data. This occurs when an API does not properly validate whether the authenticated user has permission to access a specific resource, allowing attackers to enumerate and access objects belonging to other users.

BOLA is ranked as the #1 vulnerability in the OWASP API Security Top 10 because it often leads to data breaches, unauthorized modifications, and exposure of sensitive user information.

Why is BOLA a Security Concern?​

  • Unauthorized Data Access: Attackers can manipulate user identifiers in API requests to access data they shouldn't.
  • Sensitive Information Exposure: APIs that handle Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or financial records are especially vulnerable.
  • Privilege Escalation Risks: If not properly secured, attackers could gain admin-level access by modifying API parameters.

BOLA Mitigation with APIsec​

APIsec provides two complementary approaches to detect BOLA vulnerabilities:

  1. AI-Driven BOLA Scenario Discovery
  2. Manual BOLA Attack Scenario Creation

1. AI-Driven BOLA Scenario Discovery​

APIsec automatically discovers potential BOLA scenarios using AI.

How it works:

APIsec introduces an intelligent approach to discovering, surfacing, and managing BOLA attack scenarios. It builds on the platform's ability to automatically generate scenarios based on your API design and how your endpoints interact with each other. This allows practitioners to clearly understand what is ready, what needs attention, and what is actively protecting their APIs.

The platform analyzes your API flows by examining endpoint design, data models, and how resources interact across your system. Based on this analysis, it automatically generates BOLA attack scenarios derived from real API behavior, eliminating the need for manual identification of vulnerable endpoints.

Once scenarios are generated, practitioners can review, configure, and validate them before they become active in scans. This makes the overall process faster, clearer, and easier to manage.

Scenario Management and Readiness​

Instead of relying on technical status labels, BOLA scenarios are organized based on their readiness within the testing workflow. This approach helps teams quickly understand what requires action and what is already providing security coverage.

Scenarios are grouped into three categories:

  • Needs attention – Scenarios that are missing required configuration, such as user assignment or parameter setup, and cannot run until resolved.
  • Active in scans – Scenarios that are fully configured, validated, and currently running in security tests.
  • Not in scans – Scenarios that are ready but not yet enabled for execution.

This structure helps teams prioritize work efficiently and ensures clarity in scenario readiness.

Automation with Control​

Scenarios that pass validation are automatically enabled for scanning. There is no need for manual activation or review queues, allowing security coverage to begin as soon as the platform understands the API.

At the same time, practitioners retain full control and can disable any scenario whenever needed.

Intelligent Feedback​

When a scenario cannot run due to missing configuration, such as authentication or incomplete setup, it is automatically surfaced in the Needs attention section. This makes it easy to identify and address configuration gaps quickly.

BOLA Coverage Visibility​

The BOLA page provides a dashboard-level summary of your overall coverage, including total scenarios, scenarios that need attention, active scenarios, and those not currently in scans. This gives a complete operational view of your API security posture before diving into individual scenarios.

2. Manual BOLA Attack Scenario Creation​

Manual BOLA scenarios are useful when you need precise control over testing specific endpoints or business flows. They allow you to validate critical operations, reproduce known edge cases, and ensure that authorization rules are correctly enforced across sensitive APIs.

How it works:

A manual BOLA scenario simulates how a resource created by one user is accessed by another user to validate authorization controls.

You start by configuring the scenario details, including a name and scenario type, which defines the interaction pattern between users.

Next, select two authenticated users:

  • The Owner, who creates the resource

  • The Attacker, who attempts to access that resource

In Step 1 · Owner Endpoint, select the API endpoint responsible for creating the resource. The platform executes this request using the Owner’s credentials and captures the generated resource.

In Step 2 · Attacker Endpoints, select the endpoints the attacker will use to access the same resource. These requests are executed using the Attacker’s credentials.

During execution, APIsec replaces relevant identifiers (such as resource IDs) from the Owner’s request into the Attacker’s requests to simulate unauthorized access.

The responses are then validated to determine whether proper authorization is enforced.