BlackVector Labs | "We think like attackers. We report like auditors."
Web Application Penetration Testing
A hands-on adversarial assessment of your running web application — testing every endpoint, authentication flow, and business logic path an attacker would target.
Why web penetration testing
Test what attackers actually target
Web penetration testing simulates a real adversary against your running application — exercising every endpoint, authentication flow, and business logic path to find what is exploitable right now, under real conditions.
01
Runtime confirmation
We confirm what is actually exploitable in your deployed environment — not theoretical risk. Every finding is verified and reproducible.
02
Business logic depth
We test whether your business rules — pricing, permissions, workflows — can be subverted by a determined attacker. Automated scanners cannot reason about intent.
03
Attack chain thinking
We chain low-severity findings into high-impact scenarios — demonstrating true business risk, not isolated weaknesses.
Methodology
How we conduct code reviews
Our review combines automated static analysis with deep manual expert examination — because tools find patterns while humans find logic.
01. Reconnaissance & surface mapping
We enumerate all application endpoints, authentication mechanisms, input vectors, and technology components — building a complete attack surface map before testing begins.
02. Authentication & session security
We test every aspect of the authentication layer — login mechanisms, password policy, MFA, session token generation and handling, logout behavior, and account recovery flows.
03. Authorization & access control
We test whether every user, role, and privilege level is enforced consistently — including horizontal escalation between users and vertical escalation between roles, across all endpoints and HTTP methods.
04. Input & injection testing
Every user-controlled input is tested for injection vulnerabilities across all relevant classes — SQL, command, template, LDAP, XXE — as well as XSS, CSRF, and SSRF, using both manual and tool-assisted techniques.
05. Business logic & API security
We exercise your application's workflows and full API surface as an adversarial user — testing price manipulation, workflow bypass, mass assignment, rate limiting, and data enumeration through seemingly legitimate requests.
06. Configuration & infrastructure review
We assess security headers, TLS configuration, CORS policy, cookie attributes, exposed administrative interfaces, and error handling — the configuration layer that determines how reliably application-level controls hold.
Focused Testing Areas
What we examine in depth
Eight primary security domains, each examined with dedicated test cases derived from OWASP WEB and real-world attack intelligence.
Authentication & session management
-
Login bypass and brute force protection
-
Multi-factor authentication weaknesses
-
Session fixation and hijacking
-
Insecure token generation and storage
-
Account lockout and enumeration
Injection & input attacks
-
SQL injection — error, blind, time-based
-
Stored and reflected cross-site scripting
-
Server-side request forgery (SSRF)
-
XML external entity injection (XXE)
-
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
Business logic
-
Price and discount manipulation
-
Multi-step workflow bypass
-
Negative value and boundary abuse
-
Race conditions in transactions
-
Account takeover via logic flaws
Access control & authorization
-
nsecure direct object references (IDOR)
-
Horizontal and vertical privilege escalation
-
Broken function-level authorization (BFLA)
-
API endpoint authorization gaps
-
Missing server-side access enforcement
API security
-
REST, GraphQL, and SOAP endpoint testing
-
Excessive data exposure in responses
-
Mass assignment and parameter pollution
-
Rate limiting and resource exhaustion
-
JWT algorithm and claim manipulation
Configuration & infrastructure
-
Security header completeness (CSP, HSTS)
-
TLS version and cipher suite review
-
CORS misconfiguration
-
Cookie security attributes
-
Exposed admin interfaces and dev artifacts
What You Receive
Assessment deliverables
Every engagement concludes with a complete package of outputs designed for both technical teams and executive stakeholders.
Detailed Findings Document
A comprehensive vulnerability report structured for your development and security teams, with everything needed to understand and remediate each finding:
​
1. Severity rating with CVSS score.
2. CWE and OWASP Mobile Top 10 mapping.
3. Reliable steps to reproduce.
4. Proof of concept evidence.
5. Business impact analysis.
6. Implementation-ready remediation guidance
Issue Tracking Spreadsheet
​A structured spreadsheet of all findings with severity ratings, affected components, and tracking columns — ready to integrate into your existing project management workflow.
​
1. Severity and CVSS score per finding.
2. Affected component references.
3. Remediation owner assignment field.
4. Target date and status tracking columns
Leadership Briefing Document
​A concise, non-technical summary of the overall security posture, key risk themes, and prioritized recommendations for leadership and board audiences.
​
1. Overall risk rating.
2. Finding count by severity
3. Key risk themes in plain language.
4. Prioritized remediation roadmap.
Post-Fix Retest (Optional)
​Following your team's remediation effort, we retest all identified findings to confirm effective resolution and verify that fixes have not introduced new issues.
​
1. Full retest of all original findings.
2. Closure confirmation or updated status.
3. Regression check for new vulnerabilities.
4. Offered at reduced rate as follow-on
Common Questions
Frequently asked questions
What languages and frameworks does code review cover?
We review applications in all major languages — JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, Go, PHP, Ruby, C#, and Rust — across frameworks including React, Node.js, Django, Spring, Laravel, Rails, and .NET. We tailor both tooling and manual review expertise to your specific stack.
Will penetration testing affect our live application or users?
No. All penetration testing is conducted against a designated test environment using accounts provisioned for the engagement. We do not interact with live user data or perform destructive operations unless explicitly agreed in writing with additional safeguards in place.
How long does each assessment take?
A source code review of a typical web application spans five to ten business days depending on codebase size and complexity. A web penetration test typically spans five to eight business days depending on application scope and the number of user roles. Combined assessments are scoped individually after the kickoff call.
What do we need to prepare?
For code review: read-only access to your source repository, documentation of your tech stack and framework versions, and architecture notes where available. For penetration testing: a test environment URL, accounts at each privilege level, and API documentation. A signed Rules of Engagement document is required before any work begins.
What happens if a critical issue is found during the assessment?
We notify your designated contact immediately upon confirming a Critical finding — we do not hold it for the final report. This allows your team to begin triage and response while the engagement continues.
Can we retest after remediating findings?
Yes, and we strongly recommend it. Remediation verification — in which we retest all findings after your team has addressed them — is available as a follow-on engagement at a reduced rate, timed to fit your release cycle.