How APIs Can Be Exploited Through Business Logic Abuse

Episode 15 of The API Podcast digs into a subtle but devastating category of API vulnerability: business logic abuse. Lucas and Luna break down a real-world case from 2023 where a major e-commerce platform's API was exploited by a single developer who wrote a script to hit the order-placement endpoint at different times of day, gaming a limited-stock reward program. They walk through how the API's logic trusted the client's timestamp, why standard rate limiting didn't catch it because the number of requests per second was within limits, and how the company eventually fixed it by moving timestamp verification server-side and introducing request fingerprinting. The episode also touches on broader lessons: why security isn't just about injections and authentication, how to think about state machines in API design, and what questions to ask when auditing your own endpoints for logic flaws. No clickbait — just a concrete example that'll change how you think about API security. #APISecurity #BusinessLogicAbuse #APIExploitation #RESTAPI #APIThreats #WebAPI #Vulnerability #APIArchitecture #DeveloperSecurity #SecurityTesting #TechnologyPodcast #APIEngineering #BackendSecurity #CyberSecurity #APIResilience #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TechPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo