Securityium’s Mobile Application Penetration Testing Approach
Securityium’s Mobile application penetration testing approach combines Black Box and Grey Box testing strategies, complemented by static and dynamic analyses. This testing approach is flexible and highly scalable and is based on addressing relevant threat/attack risks.
Static Testing involves scrutinizing the application's codebase without execution. Static analysis of the mobile application focusess on the process of checking if the APK, IPA etc is signed with a verified certificate or not and then decompiling the application to check for the possibility of reverse engineering.
Mobile application penetration testing involves several critical steps to ensure the security of mobile applications. It starts with static analysis, where the application is checked for valid certificates and decompiled to assess the risk of reverse engineering. Tools like IDA Pro, JD-GUI, and dex2jar are used to understand the application's code, identify obfuscation, and find exploitable security holes. This analysis also includes reverse engineering to see if an attacker can take a backup, rebuild, and re-sign the application with self-signed certificates. By using tools such as Hopper, otool, Cycript, Clutch, and GDB, testers perform binary inspection to uncover vulnerabilities and check for exposed sensitive information, like backend server details and cryptographic constants. These processes are integral to Mobile application penetration testing to ensure a comprehensive security assessment.
Another aspect of Mobile application penetration testing is evaluating the application for insecure data storage and communication. Insecure data storage flaws occur when the application saves sensitive information locally in an unprotected manner. This data can be stolen from lost or stolen devices, extracted via computer systems, or accessed by third-party applications. Additionally, insecure communication happens when there is insufficient security during data transmission between the client and server, making it possible for threat agents to exploit vulnerabilities. Insecure authentication and authorization are also tested to ensure that attackers cannot bypass these processes or exploit flaws to gain unauthorized access. Through these evaluations, Mobile application penetration testing ensures that data is protected during storage and transmission.
Finally, Mobile application penetration testing examines the quality of client-side code and the potential for code tampering. This involves testing for vulnerabilities like buffer overflows and format string issues by providing untrusted inputs to the application. Code tampering risks are assessed by checking if attackers can modify the application’s code or system APIs at runtime. Other critical checks include verifying the application's use of cryptographic mechanisms to prevent weak encryption practices and ensuring there is no extraneous functionality or side-channel data leakage. By conducting thorough Mobile application penetration testing, Securityium ensures that all potential vulnerabilities are identified and addressed, securing the application against various threats.
Dynamic Testing entails installing the application on physical and virtual devices. This method tests for business logic flaws and real-time vulnerabilities, providing a comprehensive assessment of iOS and Android applications.
Dynamic analysis in Mobile application penetration testing focuses on identifying runtime-level vulnerabilities. One critical aspect is SSL certificate pinning, a process of associating a host with its expected X509 certificate or public key. By embedding this certificate or public key during development, the application ensures secure HTTPS communication. SSL pinning makes it difficult for attackers to perform Man-In-The-Middle attacks and intercept network traffic using proxy tools. Another essential test involves memory dumps, where applications are scrutinized for any random calls during thread initiation and termination. These checks help ensure that no sensitive data is exposed during these processes, providing a robust layer of security in Mobile application penetration testing.
Data validation testing is another critical component of Mobile application penetration testing. Securityium performs this testing to ensure all inputs are sanitized and controlled before being processed by the application. Proper data validation helps identify vulnerabilities such as buffer overflows, cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and directory traversal attacks. Additionally, web services testing is conducted to uncover unique XML, PDF, JSON, and parser-related vulnerabilities. These tests ensure that the application's web services do not expose any security weaknesses that could be exploited. Furthermore, business logic vulnerabilities, which impact the application's business model more than access controls and sensitive data security, are thoroughly examined. These vulnerabilities can cause significant business losses due to broken access mechanisms. Identifying and mitigating these issues is a key objective of Mobile application penetration testing.
Privilege escalation testing is a crucial part of Mobile application penetration testing. Securityium tests applications for both vertical and horizontal privilege escalation vulnerabilities. This process involves identifying if a low-privileged user can perform actions reserved for high-privileged users or elevate their privileges improperly. Additionally, security misconfiguration vulnerabilities are checked. These vulnerabilities can occur if a component has an insecure configuration, often due to insecure default settings, poorly documented configurations, or optional configurations with unintended side effects. By thoroughly assessing these areas, Mobile application penetration testing ensures that applications are secure against various threats and misconfigurations, providing a comprehensive security posture for mobile applications.
By integrating SAST (Static Application Security Testing) and DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) techniques for Mobile application penetration testing, we deliver thorough assessment that enhance the security posture of your mobile applications.
