/security

API Security Audit

Audit your API for security issues: missing auth, exposed sensitive data, insecure transport, weak validation, and OWASP API Security Top 10 alignment. Works with local OpenAPI specs and Postman collections.

Prerequisites

For collection auditing, the Postman MCP Server must be connected. Local spec auditing works without MCP. If needed, tell the user: "Run /postman:setup to configure the Postman MCP Server."

Workflow

Step 1: Find the Source

Call getWorkspaces to get the user's workspace ID. If multiple workspaces exist, ask which to use.

Local spec:

• Search for **/openapi.{json,yaml,yml}, **/swagger.{json,yaml,yml}

Postman spec (via MCP):

• Call getAllSpecs with the workspace ID to find specs
• Call getSpecDefinition for the full spec content

Postman collection (via MCP):

• Call getCollections with the workspace parameter
• Call getCollection for full detail including auth config
• Call getEnvironment to check for exposed secrets

Step 2: Run Security Checks

Authentication and Authorization:

• Security schemes defined (OAuth2, API Key, Bearer, etc.)
• Security applied globally or per-endpoint
• No endpoints accidentally unprotected
• OAuth2 scopes defined and appropriate
• Admin endpoints have elevated auth requirements

Transport Security:

• All server URLs use HTTPS
• No mixed HTTP/HTTPS

Sensitive Data Exposure:

• No API keys, tokens, or passwords in example values
• No secrets in query parameters (should be headers/body)
• Password fields marked as format: password
• PII fields identified
• Postman environment variables checked for leaked secrets (via getEnvironment)

Input Validation:

• All parameters have defined types
• String parameters have maxLength
• Numeric parameters have minimum/maximum
• Array parameters have maxItems
• Enum values used where applicable
• Request body has required field validation

Rate Limiting:

• Rate limits documented
• Rate limit headers defined (X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining)
• 429 Too Many Requests response defined

Error Handling:

• Error responses don't leak stack traces
• Error schemas don't expose internal field names
• 401 and 403 responses properly defined
• Error messages don't reveal implementation details

OWASP API Top 10 Alignment:

• API1: Broken Object Level Authorization
• API2: Broken Authentication
• API3: Broken Object Property Level Authorization
• API4: Unrestricted Resource Consumption
• API5: Broken Function Level Authorization
• API6: Unrestricted Access to Sensitive Business Flows
• API7: Server Side Request Forgery
• API8: Security Misconfiguration
• API9: Improper Inventory Management
• API10: Unsafe Consumption of APIs

Step 3: Present Results

API Security Audit: pet-store-api.yaml

  CRITICAL (2):
    SEC-001: 3 endpoints have no security scheme applied
      - GET /admin/users
      - DELETE /admin/users/{id}
      - PUT /admin/config
    SEC-002: Server URL uses HTTP (http://api.example.com)

  HIGH (3):
    SEC-003: No rate limiting documentation or 429 response
    SEC-004: API key sent as query parameter (use header instead)
    SEC-005: No maxLength on 8 string inputs (injection risk)

  MEDIUM (2):
    SEC-006: Password field visible in GET /users/{id} response
    SEC-007: Environment variable 'db_password' not marked secret

  Score: 48/100 — Significant Issues

Step 4: Fix

For each finding:

1. Explain the security risk in plain terms
2. Show the exact spec change needed
3. Apply the fix with user approval

For Postman-specific issues:

• Call putEnvironment to mark secrets properly
• Call updateCollectionRequest to fix auth configuration
• Call updateCollectionResponse to remove sensitive data from examples

Step 5: Re-audit

After fixes, re-run the audit to show improvement.

Error Handling

• MCP not configured: Local spec auditing works without MCP. For Postman-specific checks: "Run /postman:setup to configure the Postman MCP Server."
• 401 Unauthorized: "Your Postman API key was rejected. Generate a new one at https://go.postman.co/settings/me/api-keys and run /postman:setup."
• No spec found: Ask the user for the path. Offer to audit a Postman collection directly via MCP.
• Spec too large: For large specs (100+ endpoints), audit in batches by tag or path prefix.
• Plan limitations: "Some audit features may require a paid Postman plan. Check https://www.postman.com/pricing/"