Detecting API Enumeration Attacks

GET /api/v1/users/1001 -> 200 OK
GET /api/v1/users/1002 -> 200 OK
GET /api/v1/users/1003 -> 403 Forbidden
GET /api/v1/users/1004 -> 200 OK
GET /api/v1/users/1005 -> 200 OK
...

# Attacker first harvests UUIDs from a list endpoint
GET /api/v1/posts?page=1  -> Returns post objects with author UUIDs

# Then uses those UUIDs to access restricted user data
GET /api/v1/users/a3f2c1e4-... -> Private user profile
GET /api/v1/users/b7d9e8f1-... -> Private user profile

# Authenticated as user_id=100, attempting to access other users' orders
GET /api/v1/orders?user_id=101
GET /api/v1/orders?user_id=102
GET /api/v1/orders?user_id=103

# Detect sequential ID enumeration on API endpoints
index=api_logs sourcetype=api_access
| rex field=uri_path "(?<endpoint>/api/v\d+/\w+/)(?<object_id>\d+)"
| stats count as request_count,
        dc(object_id) as unique_ids,
        values(status_code) as status_codes,
        min(_time) as first_seen,
        max(_time) as last_seen
  by src_ip, endpoint, user_session
| eval time_span = last_seen - first_seen
| eval requests_per_second = request_count / max(time_span, 1)
| where unique_ids > 20 AND requests_per_second > 2
| eval severity = case(
    unique_ids > 100, "critical",
    unique_ids > 50, "high",
    unique_ids > 20, "medium",
    1==1, "low"
  )
| sort - unique_ids
| table src_ip, endpoint, unique_ids, request_count, requests_per_second,
        status_codes, severity

# Detect BOLA via authorization failure patterns
index=api_logs sourcetype=api_access status_code IN (401, 403)
| bin _time span=5m
| stats count as failure_count,
        dc(uri_path) as unique_paths,
        values(uri_path) as attempted_paths
  by _time, src_ip, user_id
| where failure_count > 10
| eval attack_type = if(unique_paths > 5, "enumeration", "brute_force")

{
  "rule": {
    "name": "API Object Enumeration Detection",
    "description": "Detects rapid sequential access to API objects with mixed authorization results",
    "type": "threshold",
    "index": ["api-access-*"],
    "query": {
      "bool": {
        "must": [
          { "regexp": { "url.path": "/api/v[0-9]+/[a-z]+/[0-9]+" } }
        ],
        "should": [
          { "term": { "http.response.status_code": 200 } },
          { "term": { "http.response.status_code": 403 } },
          { "term": { "http.response.status_code": 401 } }
        ]
      }
    },
    "threshold": {
      "field": ["source.ip"],
      "value": 50,
      "cardinality": [
        { "field": "url.path", "value": 20 }
      ]
    },
    "schedule": { "interval": "5m" },
    "severity": "high",
    "risk_score": 73,
    "tags": ["OWASP-API1", "BOLA", "Enumeration"]
  }
}

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""API Enumeration Attack Detector

Analyzes API access logs to detect enumeration patterns
including BOLA, IDOR, and sequential ID probing.
"""

import re
import sys
import json
from collections import defaultdict
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from typing import List, Dict, Optional

@dataclass
class AccessRecord:
    timestamp: datetime
    source_ip: str
    user_id: Optional[str]
    method: str
    path: str
    status_code: int
    object_id: Optional[str] = None

@dataclass
class EnumerationAlert:
    source_ip: str
    user_id: Optional[str]
    endpoint_pattern: str
    unique_object_ids: int
    total_requests: int
    time_window_seconds: float
    requests_per_second: float
    auth_failure_ratio: float
    severity: str
    attack_type: str
    sample_ids: List[str] = field(default_factory=list)

class EnumerationDetector:
    # Regex patterns for extracting object IDs from API paths
    ID_PATTERNS = [
        re.compile(r'/api/v\d+/(\w+)/(\d+)'),           # Numeric IDs
        re.compile(r'/api/v\d+/(\w+)/([a-f0-9\-]{36})'), # UUIDs
        re.compile(r'/api/v\d+/(\w+)/([a-zA-Z0-9]{20,})'), # Long alphanumeric IDs
    ]

    def __init__(self, time_window_minutes: int = 5,
                 min_unique_ids: int = 15,
                 max_requests_per_second: float = 5.0):
        self.time_window = timedelta(minutes=time_window_minutes)
        self.min_unique_ids = min_unique_ids
        self.max_rps = max_requests_per_second
        self.access_log: List[AccessRecord] = []

    def parse_log_line(self, line: str) -> Optional[AccessRecord]:
        """Parse a common log format line into an AccessRecord."""
        log_pattern = re.compile(
            r'(?P<ip>[\d.]+)\s+\S+\s+(?P<user>\S+)\s+'
            r'\[(?P<time>[^\]]+)\]\s+'
            r'"(?P<method>\w+)\s+(?P<path>\S+)\s+\S+"\s+'
            r'(?P<status>\d+)'
        )
        match = log_pattern.match(line)
        if not match:
            return None

        path = match.group('path')
        object_id = None
        for pattern in self.ID_PATTERNS:
            id_match = pattern.search(path)
            if id_match:
                object_id = id_match.group(2)
                break

        return AccessRecord(
            timestamp=datetime.strptime(match.group('time'), '%d/%b/%Y:%H:%M:%S %z'),
            source_ip=match.group('ip'),
            user_id=match.group('user') if match.group('user') != '-' else None,
            method=match.group('method'),
            path=path,
            status_code=int(match.group('status')),
            object_id=object_id
        )

    def analyze(self, records: List[AccessRecord]) -> List[EnumerationAlert]:
        """Analyze access records for enumeration patterns."""
        alerts = []

        # Group by source IP and endpoint pattern
        grouped = defaultdict(list)
        for record in records:
            if record.object_id:
                # Normalize endpoint by removing the specific object ID
                endpoint = re.sub(r'/[a-f0-9\-]{36}', '/{id}',
                         re.sub(r'/\d+', '/{id}', record.path))
                key = (record.source_ip, record.user_id, endpoint)
                grouped[key].append(record)

        for (src_ip, user_id, endpoint), records_group in grouped.items():
            if len(records_group) < self.min_unique_ids:
                continue

            # Sort by timestamp
            records_group.sort(key=lambda r: r.timestamp)

            # Analyze time windows
            window_start = 0
            for window_start in range(len(records_group)):
                window_records = []
                for r in records_group[window_start:]:
                    if r.timestamp - records_group[window_start].timestamp <= self.time_window:
                        window_records.append(r)

                unique_ids = set(r.object_id for r in window_records)
                if len(unique_ids) < self.min_unique_ids:
                    continue

                time_span = (window_records[-1].timestamp -
                           window_records[0].timestamp).total_seconds()
                rps = len(window_records) / max(time_span, 1)

                auth_failures = sum(1 for r in window_records
                                   if r.status_code in (401, 403))
                failure_ratio = auth_failures / len(window_records)

                # Determine severity
                if len(unique_ids) > 100:
                    severity = "critical"
                elif len(unique_ids) > 50 or failure_ratio > 0.5:
                    severity = "high"
                elif len(unique_ids) > 20:
                    severity = "medium"
                else:
                    severity = "low"

                # Determine attack type
                ids_list = sorted([r.object_id for r in window_records
                                  if r.object_id and r.object_id.isdigit()])
                is_sequential = self._check_sequential(ids_list)
                attack_type = "sequential_enumeration" if is_sequential else "random_enumeration"

                alert = EnumerationAlert(
                    source_ip=src_ip,
                    user_id=user_id,
                    endpoint_pattern=endpoint,
                    unique_object_ids=len(unique_ids),
                    total_requests=len(window_records),
                    time_window_seconds=time_span,
                    requests_per_second=round(rps, 2),
                    auth_failure_ratio=round(failure_ratio, 2),
                    severity=severity,
                    attack_type=attack_type,
                    sample_ids=list(unique_ids)[:10]
                )
                alerts.append(alert)
                break  # One alert per group

        return alerts

    def _check_sequential(self, ids: List[str]) -> bool:
        """Check if numeric IDs follow a sequential pattern."""
        if len(ids) < 5:
            return False
        try:
            numeric_ids = sorted(int(i) for i in ids)
            sequential_count = sum(
                1 for i in range(1, len(numeric_ids))
                if numeric_ids[i] - numeric_ids[i-1] <= 2
            )
            return sequential_count / len(numeric_ids) > 0.7
        except ValueError:
            return False


def main():
    detector = EnumerationDetector(
        time_window_minutes=5,
        min_unique_ids=15
    )

    log_file = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else "/var/log/api/access.log"
    records = []
    with open(log_file, 'r') as f:
        for line in f:
            record = detector.parse_log_line(line.strip())
            if record:
                records.append(record)

    alerts = detector.analyze(records)

    if alerts:
        print(f"\n[!] {len(alerts)} enumeration attack(s) detected:\n")
        for alert in alerts:
            print(f"  Source IP: {alert.source_ip}")
            print(f"  User ID: {alert.user_id}")
            print(f"  Endpoint: {alert.endpoint_pattern}")
            print(f"  Unique IDs Accessed: {alert.unique_object_ids}")
            print(f"  Requests/sec: {alert.requests_per_second}")
            print(f"  Auth Failure Ratio: {alert.auth_failure_ratio}")
            print(f"  Attack Type: {alert.attack_type}")
            print(f"  Severity: {alert.severity.upper()}")
            print(f"  Sample IDs: {alert.sample_ids}")
            print()
    else:
        print("[+] No enumeration attacks detected.")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

# Always validate object ownership at the data layer
def get_user_order(request, order_id):
    order = Order.objects.get(id=order_id)
    if order.user_id != request.user.id:
        raise PermissionDenied("Not authorized to access this order")
    return order

import uuid

# Use UUIDs instead of sequential integers
class Order(Model):
    id = UUIDField(default=uuid.uuid4, primary_key=True)

# Kong rate limiting per API route
plugins:
  - name: rate-limiting
    config:
      minute: 30
      policy: redis
      limit_by: credential