GraphQL serves as an efficient query language to build web APIs. So, it is widely used in various web development projects and adopted by biggies like Facebook, Intuit, and Github. Although GraphQL is a secure and reliable option for developing APIs, security doesn’t come straight away.
You must leverage GraphQL API best practices to ensure your APIs are secure. Without implementing the right practices, the doors will be open for attackers. Even a novice attacker will be able to hack your systems, exploiting vulnerabilities you might not be unaware of.
In this article, we will discuss the best practices for securing GraphQL APIs. It will help you take the right steps to protect APIs and reduce your attack surface.
Input Validation
Validating inputs provided by users is a solid defense mechanism. It will help you prevent cyberattacks like DoS and SQL Injection. The GraphQL mechanism works like this, users provide a single or multiple identifiers, and fetchers from the backend make database queries or HTTP requests using the identifier.
Consequently, user input can be in DB queries, HTTP requests, or other calls. This input should be checked for valid values and data type. You can use an allowlist to check if the data provided by the user is valid or not. You can also use custom validators. It will avoid unwanted scripts or queries.
Depth Limiting
One of the advantages of GraphQL is nested queries. But this could also be the greatest challenge for security because an attacker can exploit it to cause DoS attacks. Executing highly nested queries will consume a lot of resources that could cause the server machine to crash or be unresponsive.
Depth limiting can help avoid such problems by limiting the depth of queries executed at a point in time. So, if an attacker tries a DoS attack, depth limiting will prevent the execution of excessive queries. It can be done using a lightweight library graphql-depth-limit.
Rate Limiting
Often, attackers use brute force to gain unauthorized access to an account. They use leaked data, such as millions of emails and passwords, and try to log in with this data. If an attacker finds the right combination of email and password, they can successfully gain unauthorized access to compromised accounts.
However, rate limiting can help avoid this scenario for GraphQL APIs. Rate limiting is a technique to limit the number of requests per user or IP. It will limit a bad actor’s ability to spam the API service and affect its performance.
Timeouts
Attackers can disrupt your operations by sending requests that consume a lot of resources. Timeout added for resolver functions or queries can provide security against such attacks. In this case, the resolution or query can be stopped when the timeout is reached.
Limiting the time will prevent the requests that consume many resources and stop cyberattacks. However, GraphQL doesn’t support timeouts out-of-the-box. You have to create custom code to get this feature.
Introspection
Attackers can exploit the introspection query that GraphQL offers. With this query, an attacker can get the whole data schema. By default, this feature is turned on, but you need to disable it to protect your API from accidentally exposing critical data. It can help attackers find a vulnerability to breach security.
Limit Access Control
The authorization checks are crucial to security. Normally, users can access functionality based on their roles and access rights. However, if authorization is not done properly, there may be a glitch that could allow an attacker to gain unauthorized access.
Implementing proper authorization checks will ensure that the features and resources are accessed by those who are worth it. The authorization checks will help you limit access control and prevent unauthorized parties from accessing non-permitted data or resources.
Query Whitelisting
Creating a whitelist of queries can help you avoid getting unwanted data for your API. A whitelist defines the data that your API can receive. After this, you can implement a logic that accepts data only if it matches with those listed in the whitelist. The use of a whitelist is quite useful to ensure security for your GraphQL API. It reduces the possibility of a cyberattack.
Verbose Errors/Feedback
Verbose errors or feedback are often helpful for developers as they offer greater details of problems. However, they can also risk API security because attackers can get critical information from them. When an input is wrong, GraphQL can provide some errors or feedback.
However, these errors or feedback can reveal a lot of crucial information about your database or server. They are useful for developers but can be fatal when falling into the hands of bad actors.
Caching and Batching
When a user needs to make multiple requests to fetch resources within a small timeframe, it can open a loophole for potential cyberattacks. Server caching and batching techniques can help avoid such incidents. It can increase the efficiency of GraphQL APIs by reducing resource consumption. Plus, it also helps to prevent making multiple duplicate requests to get a piece of data within a small timeframe.
How Does Vulnerability Scanning Help Secure GraphQL APIs?
While you can avoid security incidents by following the best practices for GraphQL security, vulnerability scanning gives you another level of protection. It can help you uncover potential security loopholes that attackers exploit to breach your API security.
GraphQL scanning involves performing automated simulated attacks on the API and discovering common security flaws like OWASP Top 10 API security risks. It can help you find weaknesses and enhance your security posture accordingly.
You need the right vulnerability scanner to perform security testing and detect weaknesses. It will automatically discover APIs within your digital landscape and scan them thoroughly. After the scan is completed, there will be a priority-based report that will provide insights into the threat.
Automated scanning takes a few minutes and can be done without requiring a complex setup. Vulnerability scanning can help minimize a myriad of security risks. It can prevent security risks like server-side request forgery, broken authentication, misconfigurations, and more.