Basics of Penetration Testing

Introduction

Penetration Testing (Pentesting) is the practice of simulating cyberattacks against systems to uncover vulnerabilities before malicious actors do. It involves various tools and techniques, and spans both web applications and network infrastructure.

Types of Pentesting

Web Application Pentesting

• Testing web apps for flaws like:
  • SQL Injection
  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
  • Broken Authentication
  • Insecure Deserialization
  • CSRF and more

Network Pentesting

• Focused on networks, routers, switches, etc.
• Activities include:
  • Port scanning
  • Banner grabbing
  • Vulnerability scanning
  • Exploiting unpatched services

Checklist

• Reconnaissance
• Scanning
• Exploitation
• Post-Exploitation
• Reporting

Important Concepts

Firewall

A network boundary device that filters traffic based on rules.

Payload

The malicious component sent to exploit a vulnerability.

Shell

A command interface attackers use after gaining access.

Tools

Tool	Purpose	Category
Nmap	Network discovery	Network
Burp Suite	Web proxy and scanner	Web
Metasploit	Exploitation framework	Exploits
Nikto	Web server scanner	Web
Wireshark	Packet analysis	Network

Recon Script Example

nmap -sC -sV -oN recon.txt 192.168.1.10

Diagrams

flowchart TD
  A[Reconnaissance] --> B[Scanning]
  B --> C[Exploitation]
  C --> D[Post-Exploitation]
  D --> E[Reporting]