Practical API Authorization Testing

Authorization testing asks whether the server correctly enforces who can access an object or perform an action.

Object-Level Authorization

Create a test matrix covering multiple authenticated identities and object identifiers.

Function-Level Authorization

Test whether privileged endpoints enforce the expected server-side role checks.

HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Content-Type: application/json

Mitigation

Authorization decisions should be enforced server-side for every sensitive operation. Client-side hiding is not authorization.

Conclusion

A good authorization test is systematic, identity-aware and focused on server-side decisions.