Testing for Business Logic Vulnerabilities

When to Use

• During authorized penetration tests when automated scanners have found few technical vulnerabilities
• When assessing e-commerce platforms for pricing, cart, and payment flow manipulations
• For testing multi-step workflows (registration, checkout, approval processes) for bypass opportunities
• When evaluating rate-limited features like vouchers, coupons, referrals, and rewards systems
• During security assessments of financial applications, voting systems, or any application with critical business rules

Prerequisites

• Authorization: Written penetration testing agreement covering business logic testing
• Burp Suite Professional: For intercepting and modifying multi-step request flows
• Application understanding: Thorough knowledge of the application's intended business workflows
• Multiple test accounts: Accounts at different privilege levels and states
• Browser DevTools: For examining client-side validation logic
• Documentation: Business requirements or user stories describing expected behavior

Workflow

Step 1: Map Business Workflows and Rules

Document all critical business processes and their expected constraints.

# Critical business flows to map:
# 1. Registration/Onboarding flow
#    - Email verification requirements
#    - Account approval process
#    - Role assignment logic

# 2. E-commerce/Purchase flow
#    - Product selection → Cart → Checkout → Payment → Confirmation
#    - Price calculation logic
#    - Discount/coupon application
#    - Quantity limits
#    - Shipping cost calculation

# 3. Authentication/Authorization flow
#    - Login → MFA → Dashboard
#    - Password reset → Token → New password
#    - Role escalation/approval

# 4. Financial transactions
#    - Balance check → Transfer → Confirmation
#    - Withdrawal limits
#    - Currency conversion

# Document expected constraints:
# - Minimum order amounts
# - Maximum quantity per item
# - Coupon usage limits (one per user)
# - Referral reward caps
# - Withdrawal daily limits
# - Account verification requirements before certain actions

Step 2: Test Price and Quantity Manipulation

Intercept and modify price, quantity, and total values in requests.

# Test negative quantity
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"product_id": 1, "quantity": -1, "price": 99.99}' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/cart/add"

# Test zero price
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"product_id": 1, "quantity": 1, "price": 0}' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/cart/add"

# Test extremely large quantity
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"product_id": 1, "quantity": 999999999}' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/cart/add"

# Test decimal/float manipulation
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"product_id": 1, "quantity": 0.001, "price": 0.01}' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/cart/add"

# Test integer overflow
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"product_id": 1, "quantity": 2147483647}' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/cart/add"

# Modify total amount directly in checkout request
# Intercept in Burp and change total from 299.99 to 0.01
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"cart_id": "abc123", "total": 0.01, "payment_method": "card"}' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/checkout"

Step 3: Test Workflow Step Bypass

Attempt to skip required steps in multi-step processes.

# Skip email verification
# Instead of: Register → Verify email → Access dashboard
# Try: Register → Access dashboard directly
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $UNVERIFIED_TOKEN" \
  "https://target.example.com/api/dashboard"

# Skip payment step
# Instead of: Cart → Shipping → Payment → Confirmation
# Try: Cart → Confirmation (skip payment)
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"cart_id": "abc123", "shipping_address": "123 Main St"}' \
  "https://target.example.com/api/orders/confirm"

# Skip MFA step
# Instead of: Login → MFA → Dashboard
# Try: Login → Dashboard (skip MFA)

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