Five Findings I Often See During Web Pentesting
Hello World!, Lately I’ve been handling quite a lot of web application projects, even though I’m getting paid monthly lol (said with the tone of wanting to be paid per manday). Because of that, I want to share some of the findings I often encounter when pentesting web applications, both internal and external.
Most of these findings are pretty simple, and many of you probably already know them. A bit of a story: I often criticize every finding I get because it trains me to think critically, especially when I encounter security issues that cannot be exploited at all, which means zero impact on the system or the business.
From that habit, I usually try to escalate each finding, and maybe this can help you develop a more critical mindset when dealing with vulnerabilities that seem difficult to exploit. Honestly, pentesting or hacking heavily relies on creativity, and that’s where the art lies.
Alright, let’s move on to the main discussion. Here, I’ll explain the findings briefly.
Authentication Issues
Weak passwords, default credentials, missing rate limiting, and poorly protected sessions are things I run into all the time. Internal applications especially tend to skip proper authentication hardening, which makes brute forcing or credential-based attacks way too easy.
Broken Access Control
IDOR and privilege escalation issues show up in almost every engagement. Many applications still fail to properly validate user roles or object ownership. Sometimes it’s a simple parameter change, but with a bit of creativity, it can escalate into something with real impact.
Sensitive Information Exposure
Things like exposed .env files, accessible .git directories, leaked API keys in JavaScript, verbose stack traces, and overly detailed API responses are still very common. Even small information leaks can help build an attack path, so I always pay attention to these.
Input Validation Problems
This includes things like reflected input in parameters, poor sanitization, open redirect behavior, and other issues caused by the application trusting user-controlled data. Not all of them lead to direct exploitation, but they often become interesting when combined with other weaknesses.
Misconfiguration
This is the category that appears in almost every web pentest. CORS misconfigurations, missing or weak security headers, debug mode left enabled, directory listing, default server configurations, and exposed admin panels all fall under this. They might seem simple, but they’re usually where the real digging begins.
These are the findings I typically encounter before diving into deeper or more complex scenarios. Most of them look basic at first glance, but with the right mindset and creativity, they can lead to meaningful escalation and real vulnerabilities.