What are the 5 stages of penetration testing?
Any penetration testing engagement consists of five key stages: reconnaissance, scanning, vulnerability assessment, exploitation, and reporting. Learn how each phase helps uncover and remediate real security risks.
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Penetration testing, a type of ethical hacking, is a structured and methodical process used by security professionals to simulate real-world attacks on IT systems. The goal is to identify, exploit, and support remediation of security vulnerabilities before malicious actors can. This testing methodology follows five distinct stages, each contributing to a comprehensive understanding of an organization’s security posture.
Reconnaissance: Gathering intel
Before a single packet is sent or a line of code is analyzed, penetration testers begin by collecting as much information as possible about the target environment.
Key objectives
- Identify publicly accessible assets (e.g., domains, IPs, applications)
- Understand the technology stack, infrastructure, and potential attack surfaces
- Gather data without triggering detection mechanisms
Techniques
- Passive reconnaissance: Analyzing public records, domain information, job postings, and social engineering opportunities using tools like WHOIS lookups, Google dorking, Shodan, and LinkedIn mining
- Active reconnaissance: Probing targets using tools like Nmap or DNS interrogation
Scanning: Uncovering vulnerabilities
With baseline intel in place, testers scan systems and applications to identify potential security issues.
Key objectives
- Enumerate services, open ports, and application endpoints
- Detect configurations and components that may introduce vulnerabilities
- Create a blueprint of the environment for targeted assessment
Approaches
- Network scanning: Port scanning and protocol enumeration to map services
- Web application scanning: Identifying OWASP Top 10 risks like injection flaws, XSS, or broken access control using pentesting scanners
- Service fingerprinting: Determining service versions and configurations to align with known vulnerabilities
Significance
Effective scanning supports deeper testing and can reveal misconfigurations, exposed services, or unpatched software before deeper exploitation attempts.
Vulnerability assessment: Analyzing weak spots
Scan outputs are refined during the vulnerability assessment phase, helping teams determine which issues present the highest risks.
Key objectives
- Validate scan findings and remove false positives
- Prioritize vulnerabilities based on impact, exploitability, and context
- Prepare data for targeted exploitation
Steps
- Review scan results manually or using vulnerability correlation tools
- Test for false positives and contextual edge cases
- Apply CVSS scoring or similar frameworks to prioritize risks
- Document confirmed vulnerabilities with sufficient detail for remediation
Exploitation: Testing the system’s resilience
Testers now attempt to exploit identified vulnerabilities to simulate what an attacker could realistically achieve.
Key objectives
- Demonstrate the potential business impact of successful attacks
- Access sensitive data, user accounts, or backend systems
- Support remediation planning with reproducible examples
Common techniques
- Exploiting input validation flaws like SQL injection or XSS
- Performing authentication bypass or privilege escalation
- Leveraging misconfigurations in APIs, file uploads, or session handling
Importance
This phase separates theoretical issues from those that create real security risks. It also helps justify security investments and developer time.
Reporting: Providing actionable insights
The testing engagement concludes with a detailed report, translating technical findings into business-relevant recommendations.
Key components of a report
- Executive summary: High-level insights and risk posture
- Technical findings: Each vulnerability with supporting evidence, impact analysis, and reproduction steps
- Proof of concept: Screenshots or logs showing exploit outcomes
- Remediation advice: Developer-oriented steps for fixing each issue
Why it matters
Comprehensive reporting ensures issues are understood and resolved effectively, improving both short-term and long-term security posture.
Penetration testing consulting engagement phases
For external assessments, a typical consulting engagement includes:
- Scoping: Agreeing on test targets, boundaries, and success criteria
- Preparation: Provisioning tools, credentials, and communication channels
- Execution: Conducting testing in stages based on the defined scope
- Validation: Reviewing and confirming all findings
- Debrief and delivery: Presenting final results, risk summaries, and mitigation plans
Overcoming challenges in penetration testing
Challenges in pen testing often stem from complexity, scale, and limited automation:
- Large attack surfaces: Complex environments may have numerous overlooked assets
- Tool limitations: No single tool can identify all vulnerabilities
- False positives: Can dilute focus if not properly validated
- Time constraints: Short test windows may limit thoroughness
- Integration gaps: After the test, findings may not flow easily into remediation workflows
Addressing these challenges requires a blend of automation, manual expertise, and alignment with modern SDLC practices.
Why penetration testing matters—and why it’s not enough
Penetration testing plays a critical role in identifying and validating vulnerabilities that could lead to data breaches, service disruptions, or compliance failures. It helps organizations:
- Understand real-world attack scenarios
- Uncover risks beyond automated scans
- Satisfy compliance obligations
- Improve internal security workflows and controls
However, while it’s a valuable and mandatory part of any cybersecurity program, pentesting also has its limitations and should always complement, not replace, continuous security monitoring and scanning.
Only when combined with more comprehensive and automated approaches like dynamic application security testing (DAST) does penetration testing provide the depth, context, and validation to strengthen overall AppSec programs. And when built into a DAST-first strategy, as championed by Invicti, manual penetration testing becomes a true power move to find the vulnerabilities and attack vectors that automated scanners cannot find—but attackers could.
FAQ: Penetration testing explained
What is the purpose of penetration testing?
Penetration testing aims to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in systems, applications, or networks to assess how a real attacker could gain unauthorized access or cause harm. It helps organizations improve their security posture by exposing security weaknesses before they can be exploited.
What are the five stages of penetration testing?
The five stages are:
- Reconnaissance: Gathering intel on the target
- Scanning: Identifying open ports, services, and vulnerabilities
- Vulnerability assessment: Validating and prioritizing risks
- Exploitation: Simulating real-world attacks to test defenses
- Reporting: Delivering findings and remediation advice
How is penetration testing different from vulnerability scanning?
Vulnerability scanning identifies known issues using automated tools, often generating false positives. Penetration testing goes further by manually exploiting those vulnerabilities to demonstrate real-world impact, providing deeper insights and validated risks.
What is the difference between DAST and penetration testing?
DAST (dynamic application security testing) is an automated method to test running applications for exploitable vulnerabilities. Penetration testing is a manual or hybrid approach that mimics actual attacker behavior to identify both technical flaws and business logic issues. DAST is ideal for continuous testing; pen testing is used for in-depth, periodic assessments.
How often should penetration testing be conducted?
At a minimum, penetration tests should be conducted annually or after significant changes to your application or infrastructure. However, organizations in regulated industries or with dynamic environments may need more frequent testing.
Do I need both DAST and penetration testing?
Yes. DAST provides scalable, real-time insights into vulnerabilities across your running applications, while penetration testing uncovers complex, contextual issues that automated tools may miss. Together, they form a comprehensive, layered AppSec approach.
