API Testing Challenges 31 - How To - forbidden secret note 403

This post and video shows how to complete the unauthorized secret note challenge, which returns a status code of 403 Forbidden.

What are the API Challenges?

Our API Challenges Application has a fully functional cloud hosted API, and a set of challenges to work through.

Authorization Challenge

Most of the challenges simply require the correct payload, and an X-Challenger header to track the session. The authentication challenges require an extra header, the value for which can only be obtained with a username and password. This value is obtained when completing challenge 30.

The X-CHALLENGER header authenticates you to access a specific set of secret notes, and the X-AUTH-TOKEN authorizes you to gain access.

Authentication is “are you who you say you are” (X-CHALLENGER)
Authorization is “do you have the right permissions” (X-AUTH-TOKEN)

Challenge 31 Forbidden

Issue a GET request on the /secret/note end point and receive 403 when X-AUTH-TOKEN does not match a valid token

GET request means use the HTTP Verb GET
- e.g. GET /secret/note sends to the secret note endpoint
X-AUTH-TOKEN means include a header named X-AUTH-TOKEN in the message. The X- implies it is a non-standard custom header
does not match a valid token means that the value in the header should be different from the value returned from the secret/token endpoint
add the X-CHALLENGER header to track progress and because the authentication code we need is asociated with the X-challenger session
Receive a 403 FORBIDDEN response because the authorization token does not match the token required to access the data

Basic Instructions

Create a new request for the /secret/note end point
- if running locally that endpoint would be
  - http://localhost:4567/secret/note
- if running in the cloud that endpoint would be
  - https://apichallenges.herokuapp.com/secret/note
The verb should be a GET
Add a custom header with the name X-AUTH-TOKEN the value should be different from the value returned in Challenge 30
The request should have an X-CHALLENGER header to track challenge completion
You should receive a 403 response - meaning you are not authorized

> GET /secret/note HTTP/1.1
> Host: apichallenges.herokuapp.com
> User-Agent: insomnia/2021.2.2
> X-CHALLENGER: x-challenger-guid
> X-AUTH-TOKEN: bob
> Accept: */*

< HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
< Connection: close
< Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2021 16:18:40 GMT
< Content-Type: application/json
< Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
< Access-Control-Allow-Headers: *
< X-Challenger: x-challenger-guid
< Server: Jetty(9.4.z-SNAPSHOT)
< Via: 1.1 vegur