Web Application Penetration Testing Methodology

Web Application Penetration Testing Methodology

Overview

Web application penetration testing simulates real-world attacks to identify vulnerabilities in your applications before attackers do.
At Fortify Solutions, we follow industry-recognized standards—including OWASP ASVS, the OWASP Testing Guide, and the OWASP Top 10—to assess and strengthen your application’s security posture.

Our approach blends manual testing and automated scanning to uncover flaws in business logic, authentication, authorization, data handling, and APIs, ensuring robust security controls and protection of sensitive data.

Our Testing Process

1. Target Scope & Reconnaissance

   • Identify application URLs, subdomains, endpoints, and high-value targets.

   • Verify testing permissions, authentication, and application accessibility.

   • Tools: Burp Suite, OWASP ZAP, Curl.

2. Business & Application Logic Mapping

   • Review workflows, access controls, and role permissions.

   • Detect business logic flaws that could bypass intended processes.

   • Assess session management, MFA, and client/server-side control enforcement.

3. Automated Crawling & Scanner Configuration

   • Map the full application, including authenticated and unauthenticated areas.

   • Enumerate input fields, hidden parameters, and dynamic content for deeper scanning.

4. Vulnerability Scanning

   • Unauthenticated: Identify public-facing vulnerabilities, misconfigured headers, outdated components, and weak login protections.

   • Authenticated: Detect risks accessible to logged-in users, such as session flaws, insecure APIs, and broken access controls.

   • Tools: WPScan, SQLmap, Nuclei, Burp Suite.

5. Manual Vulnerability Testing & Exploit Validation

   • Test for injection flaws (SQL, XSS, SSRF), broken access controls, session hijacking, and weak cryptography.

   • Validate risks in modern app environments, including SPAs, microservices, and cloud-hosted apps.

   • Tools: Burp Suite (Intruder, Repeater), OWASP ZAP, JWT_Tool, Corsy.

6. Advanced Modern Web App Security Checks

   • JavaScript dependency audits

   • WebSocket & real-time communication testing

   • CORS misconfiguration exploitation

7. Ongoing Security Feedback

   • Collaborate with developers during testing

   • Provide real-time risk updates and remediation guidance

8. Reporting, Triaging & Retesting

   • Deliver a detailed, prioritized report with step-by-step remediation guidance.

   • Retest fixed issues to confirm all vulnerabilities are closed.

Why This Matters

A single vulnerability in your web application can lead to:

• Data theft & compliance violations

• Financial loss & reputational damage

• Unauthorized access to customer accounts

• Service downtime & operational disruption

Our testing ensures your application is secure against both common and advanced threats—protecting your users, your business, and your reputation.