10 Security Mistakes Most Express APIs Make (And How to Fix Them)

Building APIs with Express.js is fast and enjoyable, but security is often treated as something to handle later. Unfortunately, small security mistakes can expose applications to attacks, data leaks, and service disruptions. In this article, we'll look at 10 common security mistakes developers make when building Express APIs and how to fix them. 1. Not Using Security Headers By default, Express does not add many security-related HTTP headers. Without proper headers, applications may be vulnerable to attacks such as clickjacking and MIME-type sniffing. Fix Install Helmet: npm install helmet Use it in your application: import helmet from "helmet"; app.use(helmet()); 2. No Rate Limiting Without rate limiting, attackers can spam endpoints, brute-force login forms, or overwhelm your server. Fix npm install express-rate-limit import rateLimit from "express-rate-limit"; const limiter = rateLimit({ windowM