Online Courses
API Penetration Testing Course
Online Courses
API Penetration Testing Course
  • Introduction
  • Setting Up
    • Tools
    • Hacking Lab
  • API Reconnaissance
    • Introduction to API Reconnaissance
    • Passive Reconnaissance
      • Google Dorking
      • GitDorking
      • TruffleHog
      • API Directories
      • Shodan
      • The Wayback Machine
    • Active Reconnaissance
      • Nmap
      • OWASP Amass
      • Directory Brute-force with Gobuster
      • Kiterunner
      • DevTools
      • Directory Brute-Forcing
  • Endpoint Analysis
    • Reverse Engineering an API
    • Excessive Data Exposure
    • Assessment
  • Scanning APIs
    • Finding Security Misconfigurations
    • Scanning APIs with OWASP ZAP
    • Assessment
  • Authentication Attacks
    • Classic Authentication Attacks
      • Note on Base64 Encoding
    • Token Attacks
    • Assessment
  • Exploiting API Authorization
    • Exploiting API Authorization
    • Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA)
    • Broken Function Level Authorization (BFLA)
    • Assessment
  • Improper Assets Management
    • Improper Assets Management
    • Finding Improper Assets Management Vulnerabilities
    • Assessment
  • Mass Assignment
    • Mass Assignment Attacks
    • Other Mass Assignment Vectors
    • Hunting for Mass Assignment
    • Assessment
  • Exploiting Server-Side Request Forgery
    • Server-Side Request Forgery
    • Types of SSRF
    • Ingredients for SSRF
    • Testing for SSRF
    • Assessment
  • Injection Vulnerabilities
    • Testing for Injection Vulnerabilities
    • Discovering Injection Vulnerabilities
      • SQL Injection Metacharacters
      • NoSQL Injection
      • OS Injection
    • Fuzzing Wide with Postman
    • Fuzzing Deep with WFuzz
    • Assessment
  • Evasion and Combining Techniques
    • Evasive Maneuvers
    • Combining Techniques
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  1. API Reconnaissance
  2. Passive Reconnaissance

The Wayback Machine

PreviousShodanNextActive Reconnaissance

Last updated 1 year ago

The Wayback Machine is an archive of various web pages over time. This is great for passive API reconnaissance because this allows you to check out historical changes to your target. If, for example, the target once advertised a partner API on their landing page, but now hides it behind an authenticated portal, then you might be able to spot that change using the Wayback Machine. Another use case would be to see changes to existing API documentation. If the API has not been managed well over time, then there is a chance that you could find retired endpoints that still exist even though the API provider believes them to be retired. These are known as Zombie APIs. Zombie APIs fall under the Improper Assets Management vulnerability on the OWASP API Security Top 10 list. Finding and comparing historical snapshots of API documentation can simplify testing for Improper Assets Management.

Check for differences between the API documentation. Later, when you are actively testing the API, make sure to test using old endpoints.