Alternatives to 42Crunch for SREs

middleBrick operates as a black-box API security scanner. You submit a URL and receive a risk score from A to F with prioritized findings. It does not require agents, SDKs, or code access, and it works with any language, framework, or cloud target. The scanner uses read-only methods, including GET and HEAD, plus text-only POST for LLM probes, and completes a scan in under one minute.

The scanner covers 12 security categories aligned to OWASP API Top 10 (2023). It checks authentication bypasses and JWT misconfigurations, BOLA and IDOR via sequential ID enumeration, BFLA and privilege escalation attempts, and property authorization issues such as over-exposure and mass-assignment. It also detects input validation risks like CORS wildcards and dangerous HTTP methods, rate limiting and resource consumption indicators, and data exposure including PII patterns and API key formats. Additional checks cover encryption posture, SSRF indicators, inventory management issues, unsafe consumption surfaces, and LLM/AI security probes across tiered scan depths.

middleBrick maps findings to OWASP API Top 10 (2023) and helps you prepare for compliance with PCI-DSS 4.0 and SOC 2 Type II. For other frameworks, it supports audit evidence for security controls described in relevant standards.

Authenticated scanning is available from the Starter tier and above, supporting Bearer tokens, API keys, Basic auth, and cookies. Domain verification is required, allowing only the domain owner to scan with credentials. The scanner forwards a restricted header allowlist, including Authorization, X-API-Key, Cookie, and X-Custom-* headers.

Safety is enforced through read-only methods only; destructive payloads are never sent. Private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints are blocked at multiple layers. Customer scan data is deletable on demand and purged within 30 days of cancellation, and it is never sold or used for model training.

The Web Dashboard centralizes scans, reports, and score trends, and it can generate branded compliance PDFs. The CLI, published as an npm package, supports commands such as middlebrick scan <url> with JSON or text output. A GitHub Action can gate CI/CD pipelines, failing the build when the score drops below a defined threshold. An MCP Server enables scanning from AI coding assistants such as Claude and Cursor.

Pro tier adds continuous monitoring with scheduled rescans every 6 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly. It provides diff detection across scans, highlighting new findings, resolved findings, and score drift. Email alerts are rate-limited to one per hour per API, and HMAC-SHA256 signed webhooks auto-disable after 5 consecutive failures.

middleBrick parses OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, and Swagger 2.0 specifications with recursive $ref resolution. It cross-references spec definitions against runtime findings to surface undefined security schemes, sensitive fields, deprecated operations, and missing pagination. Reports include evidence-based findings, risk scores, and remediation guidance rather than attempting to fix or block issues directly.