Archive
041
EXH-0412026Fictional reconstruction

LMS API Storm

March 21, 2026. State-wide Canvas tenants see burst `/api/v1` traffic copying rubric exports. You correlate developer key logs with a wayward LTI integration.

Type
Modern / Cloud
Difficulty
Intermediate
Era
2020s
Time
10 min

Briefing

Canvas is a widely deployed LMS; this scenario does not reproduce any single 2026 vendor incident. Instead it encodes a common failure mode: long-lived API keys paired with an LTI tool domain takeover. Students and faculty data move through those APIs faster than humans can read CSVs.

Your role

SRE for a regional education authority’s learning stack.

Objective

Prove credential misuse on the Canvas edge: identify the token, follow API export traffic, tie it to an LTI domain failure, then verify revocation.

Terminal environment

user
responder
host
lti-siem-01
cwd
/home/sre/canvas-trace
steps
8
Enter the terminalAbout 10 minutesSafe simulation

Safety note. This is a safe reconstruction. All systems, files, hosts, credentials, and outputs are simulated. Do not use these techniques on systems you do not own or have explicit permission to test.