Mobile Application Penetration Testing Methodology
An Overview of Cyberflame's Mobile Application Penetration Testing Methodology
Securing mobile applications, whether on iOS or Android, poses unique challenges. Applications on these platforms face a wider array of threats compared to conventional websites due to the environments they operate in. Android, for instance, allows data to be written to a device's SIM card, making it accessible to other applications with the right privileges. Coupled with internet access, a staple for most mobile applications, this can lead to potential data
breaches. iOS applications are also susceptible to security risks. Insecure API endpoints, for instance, could potentially expose user data. Added to this, mobile malware poses a significant threat to an organization's cybersecurity stance. Despite this, mobile applications share many threats common to web applications.
Threat Modeling
We begin by collaborating with the client to understand the application's use cases, including the privileges associated with each access level, and discussing the technology stack involved. This basic threat modeling enables our team to focus on critical functionalities and determine what needs the utmost protection.
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability analysis phase involves an initial automated scan, providing an overview of the application's functionality and permissions. If available, a code analysis is performed. This information serves as the foundation for subsequent manual processes, indicating potential areas for reverse engineering, dynamic analysis, and scrutinizing the mobile app's network traffic at runtime.
Manual Application Security Testing and Exploitation
Leveraging dynamic and static analysis, our mobile security testing explores how the application handles data transportation and storage, its component usage and privileges, and the backend's response to tampered traffic. Server-side session management, including authentication and authorization, forms a critical part of the security assessment. After deciphering the application's logic, we probe for security vulnerabilities by attempting to bypass and exploit security controls, thus evaluating their actual real-world security risk. If a security issue is detected at any stage during testing, the client is immediately notified. Based on the prior threat modeling, we anticipate potential attacker routes, identifying and exploring possible attack vectors.
This phase includes:
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Configuration Management Testing
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Authentication Testing
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Authorization Testing
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Session Management Testing
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Data Storage Analysis
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Data Validation Testing
Cyberflame tests for security controls in four crucial areas:
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File System
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Memory
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Network Communications
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GUI
Our team strives to demonstrate the potential exploitability of each finding to meet the primary objectives of the assessment:
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Attain Unauthorized Access
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Extract Sensitive Information
We employ a mix of commercial, open-source, and proprietary tools. Cyberflame adopts a structured testing methodology to optimize the efficiency of the mobile application assessment.
Reporting
All our findings are compiled into lucid, easy-to-understand reports. These are designed to communicate our discoveries and recommendations on how to prioritize remediation efforts, ranked by severity. Clients receive a clear and actionable report, complete with evidence for project stakeholders. At Cyberflame, we consider this phase the most critical, and we take significant care to ensure the value of our service and findings is communicated effectively. The report provides an analysis of the current state of the assessed security controls.