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Changing a request from GET to DELETE can reveal broken function-level authorization (BFLA), but the change alone never proves an exploitable flaw. The reliable test combines alternate methods, different user roles, endpoint discovery and evidence that the protected business action actually occurred.
What BFLA means in an API
Broken Function Level Authorization occurs when an authenticated caller can invoke a function reserved for a more privileged role. The request may be syntactically valid and may use a real account, yet the server fails to enforce the permission attached to that operation. A standard user reaching an administrator-only export, approval, suspension or deletion function is a BFLA case even when the user is allowed to use the same application.
The word function is the important distinction. BFLA asks whether this identity may perform an operation at all. It does not primarily ask whether the identity may access one particular record. That second question is Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA): whether the caller may read or change the object identified by an ID, account, tenant or other key. One API can suffer from BFLA, BOLA, both, or neither, so a test plan should track them separately.
OWASP’s API5:2019 guidance describes the practical risk and explicitly includes changing a request from GET to PUT or DELETE when checking whether authorization differs by method. Its current material is available in the API5:2019 Broken Function Level Authorization guidance.
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Why an alternate-method check can expose a blind spot
Many APIs place several operations behind one route. A resource might be read with GET, modified with PATCH or PUT, and removed with DELETE. Developers may protect the read handler correctly while a separate update or delete handler relies on a weaker check, an inherited controller rule or a method-specific middleware path. Replaying the same request under another verb tests whether authorization is enforced for the operation rather than inferred from the URL alone.
OWASP’s Web Security Testing Guide states the objective plainly: "Test various HTTP methods for BFLA vulnerabilities." The current WSTG BFLA scenario tells testers to try alternate methods, record response differences and assess the authorization outcome.
| Method | Question for the tester | What a suspicious result could mean |
|---|---|---|
GET |
Can the lower-privilege role read the function’s response? | Read access may be broader than intended, or the endpoint may expose administrative data. |
POST |
Can the role create, trigger or submit the privileged action? | A create or command handler may lack the role check applied elsewhere. |
PUT |
Can the role replace the resource or invoke the corresponding operation? | Full-update logic may have different authorization from the read path. |
PATCH |
Can the role change sensitive fields through a partial update? | Field or workflow controls may not be applied to the patch handler. |
DELETE |
Can the role remove, revoke or deactivate something? | A destructive function may be reachable even though ordinary viewing is allowed. |
The table describes test questions, not universal semantics. An endpoint can legitimately reject a method, use a different route for an operation or require a workflow token. A method difference is a lead that needs authorization and state verification.
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How to test BFLA with different HTTP methods
1. Define permission boundaries and obtain approval
Document the application, API base paths, accounts, tenants and roles that are in scope. Obtain explicit authorization before sending requests that could change data. Build at least one account for each relevant privilege level, including a normal user and the role expected to administer the function. If the system has group hierarchies, record which groups inherit which permissions.
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2. Map functions, not just URLs
Inventory documented requests, client traffic and known workflows. For every operation, note the endpoint, method, required authentication, role that should be allowed, and whether it changes state. Do not label a function administrative solely because its path contains a word such as admin, and do not assume a neutral-looking path is ordinary. OWASP’s API5:2023 guidance says, "Don’t assume that an API endpoint is regular or administrative only based on the URL path." See the API5:2023 prevention and testing guidance.
3. Capture an authorized baseline
Use the properly privileged account to perform the intended operation once, where the test scope permits it. Save the complete request and response, including path, method, headers, body, status, response body and any identifiers. Record the observable result: a new record, changed field, revoked session, generated export or other business effect. A baseline shows what success looks like and prevents confusing a routing failure with an authorization decision.
4. Replay under a lower-privilege identity
Send the same request with the lower-privilege account while keeping the resource and parameters controlled. Then vary the method where that operation makes sense. For example, if a documented resource supports GET, test whether the same authenticated user can reach related PUT, PATCH or DELETE behavior. Do not send a destructive request against production data; use a disposable object or a non-destructive workflow when available.
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5. Test role-specific and guessed functions
Repeat the check against operations exposed to another group, including administrative workflows that are not linked in the ordinary user’s interface. A user may discover a function through documentation, client code, predictable naming or an error message. OWASP’s BFLA material recommends testing whether a regular user can call an administrative endpoint or guess a function intended for a different group. Treat a discovered path as a candidate for authorization testing, not as proof that the path’s naming reflects its policy.
6. Enumerate supported methods carefully
The WSTG’s stable HTTP-method test includes method enumeration, access-control checks and method-override behavior. An OPTIONS request can reveal methods that a server advertises for a resource. OWASP describes the simplest enumeration approach as: "The simplest way to do this is to make an OPTIONS request to the server:" Follow that procedure in the WSTG Test HTTP Methods chapter.
An Allow header or an advertised method is reconnaissance, not a vulnerability finding. Confirm the method by sending an authorized, controlled request and then checking the operation’s result. If the application supports method override through a proxy, framework or request parameter, include that path in scope because it can create a second route to the same function.
7. Verify the business effect
Check the database-visible or user-visible consequence using an approved observation method: retrieve the object afterward, inspect an audit record, confirm a status transition, or verify that a generated artifact exists. For an attempted deletion, confirm whether the object was actually removed or merely queued. For an update, compare the protected field before and after. If the operation is asynchronous, follow its documented job status rather than treating an accepted request as completion.
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8. Repeat across identities and objects
Run the same matrix for each relevant role, tenant and ownership case. Keep BFLA assertions separate from BOLA assertions by changing one variable at a time: first hold the object constant and change the caller’s role, then hold the role constant and test an object belonging to another account or tenant. This separation makes the report clear when both controls fail.
Is changing GET to DELETE enough to prove BFLA?
No. It is a useful probe, not a standalone proof. A changed verb can produce a route-level response without reaching the protected function. Conversely, a server can return a generic success response while declining the business action internally. Proof requires three elements:
- Identity: the request was made by a role that should not be allowed to invoke the function.
- Authorization result: the server failed to enforce the role or group restriction for that operation.
- Effect: the sensitive action actually happened, or the response reveals protected function behavior that the role should not receive.
Document both the denied and allowed baselines. Include the exact method, path, request body, identity, response, timing if relevant, and state evidence. If only the response differs, label the result as an authorization behavior requiring confirmation rather than claiming that data was changed.
BFLA and BOLA: keep the findings distinct
| Question | BFLA | BOLA |
|---|---|---|
| What is being authorized? | The function or operation itself. | The particular object or record named in the request. |
| Typical test variable | User role, group or privilege level. | Object ID, owner, tenant or account context. |
| Example | A normal user can invoke an administrator-only account suspension function. | A user can read or edit another customer’s invoice by changing its identifier. |
| Can both occur? | Yes. A function may be open to the wrong role and also fail to restrict which objects it can affect. | Yes. Test object ownership independently after function permission is established. |
The OWASP REST Assessment Cheat Sheet provides the concise BFLA/BOLA distinction. A report should name the failed control precisely instead of calling every unauthorized API response an object-access flaw.
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GraphQL and non-REST functions
Changing an HTTP verb is most visible in REST-style APIs, but the underlying question is broader: can this identity invoke a function reserved for another role? The WSTG’s current BFLA scenario also covers GraphQL. For GraphQL, examine queries, mutations and resolver-level authorization rather than assuming that one endpoint path represents one permission boundary. Apply the same role comparison and effect verification, even though the transport may use one HTTP method for many operations.
How developers prevent BFLA
Enforce authorization at every business function
Use a default-deny policy and grant explicit permissions to roles or groups. Every handler that performs an administrative or sensitive operation should check the caller’s permission, including handlers sharing a controller, route prefix or service with ordinary user operations. Do not rely on the client interface, URL naming or the fact that a user is already authenticated.
Keep checks consistent across methods
Apply the same authorization decision to equivalent operations exposed through PUT, PATCH, DELETE, method overrides and asynchronous jobs. Centralized policy code can reduce drift, but the decision still needs to be evaluated in the context of the requested function and object.
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Test negative paths continuously
Automated authorization tests should execute each sensitive function with identities that should be denied and assert both the authorization response and the unchanged business state. Include newly added methods and alternate routes in code review. Log authorization failures and sensitive successes so an unexpected role can be investigated without relying solely on HTTP status codes.
What a useful BFLA report contains
- Scope and authorization: target environment, approved accounts, roles, tenants and test window.
- Function map: endpoint, method, operation, expected roles and whether it changes state.
- Reproduction: sanitized request and response for the privileged baseline and the lower-privilege attempt.
- Evidence: response behavior plus the observed state change, audit event or other operation-specific confirmation.
- Boundary analysis: whether the result is BFLA, BOLA, both, or an unconfirmed routing discrepancy.
- Remediation: the missing role or group check, affected methods and regression tests needed to prevent recurrence.
A report should not claim that pentesters universally omit alternate methods. OWASP explicitly recommends trying them, while available guidance does not establish how frequently individual engagements perform the check or why a particular test might leave it out. The defensible conclusion is that method-specific authorization remains an implementation and testing blind spot worth checking deliberately.
Which OWASP version should you cite?
The OWASP Web Security Testing Guide project page lists version 4.2 as the latest stable release and says version 5.0 is under development. The page also describes the guide as free and openly available; its note about a printed book refers to the older v4 edition, not a claim that a printed current edition exists. For repeatable assessments, cite the stable, versioned material when possible and remember that the page labeled “latest” can change.
Use the OWASP Web Security Testing Guide project page for release status, the versioned WSTG stable HTTP-method chapter for method enumeration, and the latest BFLA page for the evolving scenario. No reliable prevalence or success-rate statistic establishes that a particular percentage of penetration tests misses wrong-method checks, so such figures should not be inferred from OWASP’s qualitative risk categories.
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Quick Recap
A compact decision checklist
- Is the suspected issue about invoking a function, not merely accessing another object?
- Is there a documented role or group that should be denied?
- Have you captured a successful baseline with the permitted identity?
- Have you replayed the request with the lower-privilege identity and sensible alternate methods?
- Have you examined role-specific or guessed endpoints instead of trusting URL names?
- Have you considered
OPTIONS, advertised methods and method-override paths? - Have you verified the actual business effect rather than relying on a status code?
- Have you repeated the test across relevant roles, tenants and object-ownership cases?
- Does the final finding clearly separate BFLA from BOLA and state what evidence proves it?
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