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Does Your System Prevent Privilege Escalation?

Type: DeepDive
Category: API
Audience: Security architects, API reviewers, backend engineers in multi-tenant SaaS

🔍 What This Perspective Covers

Not all security breaches are intrusions.
Some are misdesigns—where the system lets users access more than they should.

⚠️ Common Escalation Paths

  • “Readonly” roles can perform side effects through indirect APIs
  • Shared tenants leak access when tenant IDs aren't strictly checked
  • Admin-only endpoints get exposed via misconfigured gateways
  • Logic flaws confuse “ownership” with “visibility”

✅ Safer Authorization Design

  • Use explicit permission checks at entrypoint—not deep inside logic
  • Validate resource ownership for every operation—not just access
  • Treat tenant boundaries as isolation contracts, not just filters
  • Audit for privilege elevation paths (e.g. role-switch, token leakage)
  • Test for “silent escalation” via combination of API calls

🧠 Key Insight

Privilege escalation doesn’t feel like a bug.
Which is why it must be tested as a feature.

❓ FAQ

  • Q: Can’t we rely on role-based checks alone?
    A: Not if actions depend on data ownership or context.

  • Q: Should every access path be tested manually?
    A: Automate for known paths. Red-team for the unknown ones.