Case Studies on API Security Vulnerabilities: Analyzing the Causes, Impact and Mitigation Strategies

Authors:

Saurabh Mishra, Chetan Bhapkar, Vedant Mandhare, Shriraj Bankapure

Abstract—As modern digital services increasingly rely on Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to enable communication between software systems, the security of these interfaces has become a critical concern. APIs expose application logic and data to external consumers, making them attractive targets for attackers seeking unauthorized access, data leakage, or service disruption. This paper presents a series of case studies analyzing common API security vulnerabilities [9], focusing on their root causes, real-world impact, and effective mitigation strategies. Five representative scenarios are examined, including Broken Object Level Authorization, Excessive Data Exposure, Injection Attacks in APIs, Lack of Rate Limiting, and Security Misconfiguration. Each case study highlights how improper implementation practices and insufficient input validation can expose sensitive data or allow attackers to manipulate system behavior. The findings are mapped to the OWASP API Security Top 10 framework [1] to demonstrate the prevalence of these vulnerabilities in modern software systems. Through this analysis, the study emphasizes the importance of secure API design, proper authentication and authorization mechanisms, and continuous security testing in order to protect applications and user data in today’s interconnected digital ecosystem..

Keywords—API Security; Cybersecurity; Web Services; OWASP API Top 10 [1]; Security Vulnerabilities; Case Study.