Review additional property policy in OpenAPI 2.0

Choose additionalProperties to match the data contract.

Description

OpenAPI 2.0 additionalProperties accepts a Boolean or a schema. false forbids undefined properties, true or omission allows them, and a schema constrains their values. Using a Boolean does not by itself make the specification invalid.

Potential impact

  • A broader policy than intended may let an implementation accept unexpected data.
  • Forbidding extension properties that clients need can reject otherwise legitimate requests.

Remediation

Choose additionalProperties according to the data contract. Retain false to forbid extra properties; to allow them, specify an appropriate value schema or use true. Check actual server-side input validation and avoid broadening the allowed data unnecessarily when editing the specification.

Examples

The first example forbids undefined properties in a response object. These examples compare different policies for additional properties.

Before

json
{
  "swagger": "2.0",
  "info": {
    "title": "Simple API Overview",
    "version": "1.0.0"
  },
  "paths": {
    "/": {
      "get": {
        "operationId": "listVersionsv2",
        "summary": "List API versions",
        "responses": {
          "200": {
            "description": "200 response",
            "schema": {
              "type": "object",
              "properties": {
                "name": {
                  "type": "string"
                },
                "tag": {
                  "type": "string"
                }
              },
              "required": [
                "name"
              ],
              "additionalProperties": false
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

After

json
{
  "swagger": "2.0",
  "info": {
    "title": "Simple API Overview",
    "version": "1.0.0"
  },
  "paths": {
    "/": {
      "get": {
        "operationId": "listVersionsv2",
        "summary": "List API versions",
        "responses": {
          "200": {
            "description": "200 response",
            "schema": {
              "type": "object",
              "properties": {
                "name": {
                  "type": "string"
                },
                "tag": {
                  "type": "string"
                }
              },
              "required": [
                "name"
              ],
              "additionalProperties": {
                "$ref": "#/definitions/User"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "definitions": {
    "User": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "name": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "tag": {
          "type": "string"
        }
      },
      "required": [
        "name"
      ]
    }
  }
}

The second example permits extra properties whose values conform to the User schema. Replacing false with a schema changes the contract and is not a required correction in every case.

References