Web Application Penetration Testing
Automated scanners find the vulnerabilities every scanner finds. The flaws that actually get exploited — broken authorization, chained business-logic abuse, subtle authentication bypasses — need a person reading your application the way an attacker does. That's what this engagement delivers.
What's included
- OWASP Top 10 coverage
- Authentication & session testing
- Authorization / IDOR testing across roles
- Business logic & workflow abuse
- REST / GraphQL API testing
- Injection, SSRF, XXE, file upload testing
Deliverables
- Executive summary for leadership
- Technical report with CVSS-rated findings
- Reproduction steps & screenshot evidence
- Prioritised remediation roadmap
- Live debrief walkthrough with your team
Timeline
3–5 business days, depending on role count and endpoint surface. Exact timeline confirmed in your written proposal before testing starts.
Where scanners stop and manual testing starts
A scanner will find reflected XSS and outdated libraries. It will not find that a "delete comment" endpoint checks the comment ID but not whether it belongs to the requesting user, or that switching a role parameter mid-checkout skips a payment validation step. Those are the findings that actually get exploited in the wild, and they only surface when a tester reads the application's real behaviour rather than pattern-matching known signatures.
Testing covers every OWASP Top 10 category as a baseline, then goes deeper into how your specific application is built: its roles and permission model, its multi-step workflows, and its API contracts. If your app has an admin role, a billing flow, or file uploads, those get dedicated attention — they're where the highest-impact findings usually live.
Methodology
Authenticated testing across every role defined in your application, using Burp Suite for interception and manual analysis for logic. Coverage includes injection classes (SQLi, command injection, SSTI), authentication and session management, access control at both the UI and API layer, SSRF and XXE where file or URL handling exists, and file-upload abuse where relevant. Every finding is manually verified before it's reported — no unconfirmed scanner output makes it into your report. My published web exploitation reference and enumeration methodology reflect the same techniques used here.
What testing does not do
No denial-of-service testing, no destructive actions against production data, and no social engineering unless explicitly scoped. Anything that risks availability or data integrity is confirmed with you first under the signed rules of engagement.
Questions about web app testing
The OWASP Top 10 as a baseline — injection, broken access control, authentication flaws, security misconfiguration, SSRF, and so on — plus manual testing for business logic flaws that automated scanners can't find: broken workflows, IDOR-style authorization gaps, price or quantity manipulation, and multi-step process abuse specific to how your application actually works.
Yes. Most modern applications are API-driven, and the API surface is usually where the interesting findings are — missing object-level authorization, mass assignment, rate-limit gaps, and JWT handling issues. If you have a REST or GraphQL API, it's tested alongside the frontend, not as an afterthought.
Manual testing, using automated tools (Burp Suite and others) to accelerate coverage, not replace judgment. Business logic flaws, authorization bypasses, and chained vulnerabilities are found by a person reading the application's actual behaviour, not a scanner matching signatures.
3 to 5 business days for a typical application, depending on the number of roles, workflows, and API endpoints in scope. Larger applications with multiple user roles or complex permission models take longer — the exact timeline is confirmed in your written proposal.
Yes, and it's often preferable — staging avoids any risk to live customer data while still testing the real application logic, provided staging is a faithful mirror of production. Production testing is also fine under an agreed rules-of-engagement window.
Web application tests start from $500, scoped to the number of roles, workflows, and endpoints in the application. You get a fixed price in writing before testing starts — see the pricing page for details.
Find out what a real attacker would find first
Free scoping call, fixed-price proposal within 24 hours.