OWASP ZAP API

The OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) is a popular open-source security tool to help find vulnerabilities in web applications. It has an Application Programming Interface (API) to allow developers and security professionals to interact with ZAP programmatically, to automate security testing and integrate into continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.

Key Insights

The API allows you to control ZAP, initiate scans, access results and configure ZAP. The API supports multiple formats, JSON, HTML, XML, so you can choose what suits you and your integration requirements. This flexibility allows ZAP to fit into any development and testing workflow.

Automation and Integration

By using the ZAP API you can automate security testing of your web applications. This is especially useful for regular vulnerability scanning, so security checks are applied consistently throughout the development lifecycle. Integrating ZAP into CI/CD pipelines allows you to detect security issues early, so you can fix them before they reach production.

GitHub

API Security Testing

In addition to web application scanning ZAP's API can also be used to test other APIs. You can configure ZAP to scan API endpoints by providing the necessary definitions, such as OpenAPI or GraphQL schemas. Once configured ZAP can find security flaws in the API, including improper authentication, authorization weaknesses and data exposure vulnerabilities.

Known Variants

No known variants of the OWASP ZAP API as it's a part of the OWASP ZAP tool itself. The API is updated and improved as part of the ZAP development.

Mitigation Strategies

Limit access to the ZAP API and secure it with API keys to prevent misuse.
Update OWASP ZAP to the latest version to get security patches and new features.
Integrate ZAP API scans into your pipeline to find and fix vulnerabilities.
Provide training for developers and security teams on effectively using the ZAP API for security testing.

Targeted Industries or Sectors

OWASP ZAP API is used in technology, finance, healthcare and e-commerce sectors to help secure web applications and APIs by automating vulnerability scanning and integrating into development workflow.

Associated Threat Actors

No specific threat actors for the OWASP ZAP API. It's a legitimate security tool developed and maintained by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) and used by security professionals and developers to secure applications.