42Crunch for Flask

42Crunch is a self-service API security scanner that accepts a target URL and returns a risk grade from A to F along with prioritized findings. It operates as a black-box scanner, requiring no agents, code access, or SDK integration, and supports any language, framework, or cloud. Scans complete in under a minute using read-only methods such as GET and HEAD, with text-only POST allowed for LLM probes. The tool maps findings to OWASP API Top 10 (2023), PCI-DSS 4.0, and SOC 2 Type II, while aligning with security controls described in other regulatory frameworks through support for audit evidence and preparation guidance.

The scanner evaluates 12 categories aligned to OWASP API Top 10, including authentication bypass, JWT misconfigurations, and security header compliance. It probes for broken object level authorization (BOLA/IDOR) via sequential ID enumeration and active adjacent-ID testing, and checks for broken function level authorization (BFLA) through admin endpoint probing and role leakage. For Flask services, the scanner assesses whether security defaults and auth middleware are correctly implemented and whether error shapes expose stack traces or internal context. Input validation checks include CORS wildcard usage with credentials, dangerous HTTP methods, and debug endpoints. Detection of data exposure covers PII patterns such as email and context-aware SSN, as well as API key formats for AWS, Stripe, GitHub, and Slack. The scanner also analyzes encryption settings like HTTPS redirects, HSTS, and cookie flags, in addition to SSRF indicators involving URL-accepting parameters and internal IP probing.

The scanner parses OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, and Swagger 2.0 documents with recursive $ref resolution, cross-referencing spec definitions against runtime behavior to identify undefined security schemes, sensitive field exposure, deprecated operations, and missing pagination. For authenticated scanning, supported methods include Bearer tokens, API keys, Basic auth, and cookies. Domain verification is enforced through DNS TXT records or an HTTP well-known file to ensure only the domain owner can submit credentials. A strict header allowlist permits only Authorization, X-API-Key, Cookie, and X-Custom-* headers. This approach helps validate controls and supports audit evidence when assessing frameworks such as Flask that rely on custom middleware or decorators for routing and authentication.

Pro tier features enable scheduled rescans every 6 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly, with diff detection to surface new findings, resolved findings, and score drift. Alerts are delivered via email at a rate-limited pace of one per hour per API, and HMAC-SHA256 signed webhooks auto-disable after five consecutive failures. The scanner integrates with a web dashboard for report management and trend tracking, a CLI via an npm package for JSON or text output, a GitHub Action that fails builds when scores drop below a set threshold, and an MCP server for use with AI coding assistants. Safety measures include read-only methods only, blocking of private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints at multiple layers, and a clear policy that customer scan data is deletable on demand and never used for model training.

middleBrick is a scanning tool and does not fix, patch, block, or remediate findings; it provides detection and guidance only. It does not execute active SQL injection or command injection tests, which require intrusive payloads outside its scope, nor does it detect business logic vulnerabilities or blind SSRF that rely on out-of-band infrastructure. The scanner surfaces findings relevant to compliance but does not replace human pentesters for high-stakes audits. It helps you prepare for regulations and aligns with security controls described in PCI-DSS 4.0, SOC 2 Type II, and OWASP API Top 10 (2023), without claiming certification or guaranteed compliance with any regulatory regime.