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Ziwit Consultancy Services Pentest White Box Pentest

A pentest white box is a type of computer security testing in which the tester has full access to the target system, including source code, network architecture and underlying technologies. This full access allows the tester to identify vulnerabilities with high accuracy, ensuring a thorough assessment of system security.

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Why do a Pentest White Box by Ziwit?

The team's expertise

The Ziwit team is comprised of IT security experts who have significant experience in identifying and remediating vulnerabilities.

Ziwit auditors are certified by leading certification bodies, such as ANSSI via PASSI certification, Offensive Security and the SANS Institute. They also have experience performing white box pentests for a variety of systems and applications.

The complete approach

Ziwit offers a comprehensive approach to white box pentesting, which includes the following elements:

An in-depth analysis of the source code

Ziwit auditors analyze system or application source code to identify vulnerabilities, such as SQL injections, cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities, and memory leak vulnerabilities.

A network scan

Pentesters use scanning tools to identify network vulnerabilities such as unsecured open ports, unsecured services, and configuration vulnerabilities.

Pentest

At Ziwit, we manually test the system or application to identify vulnerabilities, including:

  • Social engineering.
  • Operating.
  • Configuration.

This comprehensive approach allows Ziwit pentesters to identify a wide range of vulnerabilities, including those that would not be detected by a more limited approach.

Additional services

Ziwit also offers a range of complementary services to white box pentests, such as:

Advice and recommendations

Ziwit pentesters provide advice and recommendations to organizations to remediate identified vulnerabilities. These advices are based on Ziwit's IT security expertise and best practices for patching vulnerabilities.

IT security training

Ziwit offers IT security training for organizations that want to improve the security of their systems and applications. These training courses are provided by Ziwit IT security experts.

These additional services allow organizations to get the most out of their investment in a pentest white box.

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How a White Box Pentest takes place

The procedure for a white box pentest can be as follows:

01

Planning

The planning phase of a white box pentest is a crucial step that ensures the effectiveness of the test and meets the organization's objectives.

This phase involves close collaboration between the pentesting service provider and the organization to define the scope, resources and expectations of the test.

Definition of white box pentest objectives

The organization must clearly define the objectives of the white box pentest in response to the following questions:

  • What do we want to evaluate?
  • What level of risk is acceptable?
  • What are the most critical systems and applications?

Objectives may include identifying critical vulnerabilities, assessing compliance with security standards, simulating an attack by an external attacker, or identifying human security vulnerabilities.

Determination of the perimeter

The scope of the pentest white box defines the systems and applications that will be tested.

The organization must identify the most critical and risk-prone systems and applications, while taking into account time and resource constraints.

Assessment of available resources

The organization must provide the pentesting service provider with the resources necessary to successfully complete the test, including:

  • Full access to the target system, including source code, data and configurations.
  • Information about the network architecture and underlying technologies.
  • Human resources to answer questions and facilitate the test.

Definition of deliverables and schedule

White box pentest deliverables may include a detailed report, a prioritized list of identified vulnerabilities, and recommendations for remediating them.

The test schedule must be realistic and take into account the complexity of the target system and available resources.

Communication & management of expectations

Clear and regular communication between the organization and the pentesting service provider is essential to ensure the success of the test.

Mutual expectations should be clearly defined and potential risks identified and discussed.

02

Information gathering

The information gathering phase of a black box pentest aims to identify the target's systems, applications, networks and infrastructure, as well as potential vulnerabilities.

Auditors use a variety of techniques to perform discovery, including:

Port scanning

Auditors can scan open ports on target systems to identify services that are available. They can also use vulnerability scanning tools to identify known vulnerabilities in the target's systems.

Traffic Analysis

Pentesters can analyze the target's network traffic to identify anomalies and suspicious activities. This enables them to detect ongoing attacks and potential vulnerabilities.

Social engineering

Auditors can use social engineering techniques to attempt to deceive the target's users and obtain sensitive information. This allows them to access the target's system or application even if there are no known vulnerabilities.

The objectives of the collection phase are as follows:

  • Identify potential vulnerabilities in the target's systems and applications.
  • Confirm potential vulnerabilities identified during the reconnaissance phase.
  • Determine whether potential vulnerabilities can be exploited.

The results of this phase are used to plan the exploitation phase, which consists of testing the identified vulnerabilities to gain access to the target's system or application.

03

Exploitation

The exploitation phase of a black box pentest involves exploiting vulnerabilities identified during the discovery phase to gain access to the target's system or application.

The aim of the exploitation phase is to demonstrate to the organization the potential impact of the identified vulnerabilities, and to help it take steps to correct them.

Here are a few examples of activities that can be carried out during the operational phase of a black box pentest:

  • Exploit known vulnerabilities in the target's systems to gain access to the target's system or application.
  • Use social engineering techniques to deceive target users and obtain sensitive information.
  • Escalate privileges in order to access more sensitive areas of the system or more sensitive information.
  • Demonstrate to the organization the potential impact of identified vulnerabilities by deleting or modifying data, installing malware, or launching attacks against other systems.

It is important to note that the operating phase must be conducted in a responsible and ethical manner.

Auditors must obtain the organization's authorization before launching attacks against its systems or applications. They must also avoid damaging the organization's systems or data.

04

The Pentest

The phase of carrying out a white box pentest generally takes place in four stages:

Preparation

During the preparation phase, the pentester collects information about the target system. This information includes the system architecture, applications used, and security policies in place.

The pentester can obtain this information from the organization commissioning the pentest.

The organization can provide the pentester with documents, such as network diagrams, application lists, and security policies.

The pentester can also obtain information about the target system by searching the Internet.

The pentester can search for information about the target system, such as known vulnerabilities or news articles.

Initial assessment

During the initial assessment, the pentester performs a quick system test to identify the most critical vulnerabilities. This test generally focuses on the following vulnerabilities:

  • Known vulnerabilities: Pentester looks for known vulnerabilities that have been reported by security organizations, such as the National Vulnerability Database (NVD).
  • High risk vulnerabilities: Pentester identifies vulnerabilities that pose a high risk to the target system.
  • Vulnerabilities that can be exploited by an attacker to gain full access to the system: Pentester looks for vulnerabilities that can be exploited to take control of the system.

Thorough testing

During deep testing, the pentester performs a more detailed test of the system to identify remaining vulnerabilities. This test may include the following techniques:

  • Source code analysis: the pentester analyzes the source code of the system to identify security vulnerabilities.
  • Network scanning: the pentester uses scanning tools to identify network vulnerabilities.
  • Manual testing: pentester uses manual techniques to identify vulnerabilities that are not detectable by automated techniques.

Recap

The summary report must include:

  • A list of identified vulnerabilities: The report must provide a detailed list of all identified vulnerabilities, including a description of the vulnerability, its severity and its potential impact.
  • Recommendations for correcting vulnerabilities: the report must provide detailed recommendations for correcting the identified vulnerabilities.
  • An action plan for remediation of vulnerabilities: The report must provide an action plan for remediation of identified vulnerabilities, including a timeline and necessary resources.

05

The report

The reporting phase of a white box pentest is the final phase of the test. This phase involves writing a report that describes the identified vulnerabilities and provides recommendations for fixing them.

The white box pentest report includes the following elements:

  • Summary of Test Objectives: The report should summarize the test objectives and the systems and applications that were tested.
  • Description of methodologies used: The report should describe the methodologies used to identify vulnerabilities, such as source code analysis, network scanning and manual testing.
  • List of Identified Vulnerabilities: The report must provide a detailed list of identified vulnerabilities, including a description of the vulnerability, its severity and its potential impact.
  • Recommendations for remediating vulnerabilities: The report should provide detailed recommendations for remediating the identified vulnerabilities.
  • Action plan for remediating vulnerabilities: The report must provide an action plan for remediating identified vulnerabilities, including a timeline and necessary resources.

The report should be clear, concise and easy to understand for those responsible for the organization's security. It must also be sufficiently detailed to allow the organization to correct the identified vulnerabilities.

In addition to the items mentioned above, the report may include:

  • A screenshot or video depicting the vulnerability: A screenshot or video can help security managers understand the vulnerability and fix it.
  • References to external resources: The report may include references to external resources, such as blog articles or security bulletins, which may provide more information about the vulnerability.

The reporting phase of a white box pentest is an important phase that communicates the test results to the organization and facilitates the correction of identified vulnerabilities.

At Ziwit, we offer a counter-audit. The latter makes it possible to validate the correct correction of vulnerabilities and flaws detected by experts and auditors.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Pentest White Box

Advantages of Pentest White Box

White Box Pentest has many advantages over other types of penetration testing. These advantages are mainly due to the fact that auditors have full access to the target system, including the source code, network architecture and underlying technologies.

Detection of the most critical vulnerabilities

One of the main advantages of white box pentesting is that it can detect the most critical vulnerabilities.

Indeed, pentesters can test vulnerabilities that are not visible from outside the system. These vulnerabilities are often the hardest to detect and the most dangerous.

For example, a white box pentester can identify a vulnerability in an application's source code that allows an attacker to take control of the application. This vulnerability would not be detectable by a black box pentester, because the attacker would not be able to access the application source code.

In-depth security assessment

In addition to detecting the most critical vulnerabilities, white box pentests make it possible to assess the security of the system as a whole. This includes technical and non-technical aspects of security.

Technical aspects of security include network architecture, operating systems, databases, applications, etc.

Non-technical aspects of security include security policies and procedures, employee awareness of cybersecurity risks, etc.

Non-technical aspects of security include security policies and procedures, employee awareness of cybersecurity risks, etc.

Recommendations for fixing vulnerabilities

A White Box Pentest provides recommendations for remediation of identified vulnerabilities. These recommendations allow organizations to strengthen their security and reduce their risk of falling victim to a cyberattack.

The recommendations of white box pentesters are generally specific and detailed. They tell organizations what steps to take to fix vulnerabilities.

For example, a white box auditor may recommend that an organization update an application's source code to fix a vulnerability. This recommendation is specific and detailed because it tells the organization which version of the source code to update.

Disadvantages of Pentest White Box

A Pentest White Box can also have some disadvantages, including:

Cost and complexity

Doing a White Box Pentest is much more expensive and complex than other types of penetration testing. This is because it requires a greater investment of time and resources from both the organization and the pentesting service provider.

  • Time: White box pentester requires more time than other types of penetration testing because white box pentesters have more work to do. They must analyze the source code, network architecture and underlying technologies, which can take several weeks or even months.
  • Resources: Doing a white box penetration test requires more resources than other types of penetration testing, because of the need for more advanced skills and knowledge. White box pentesters must be IT security experts, capable of analyzing source code, network architecture and underlying technologies.

Close collaboration required

Choosing to carry out a White Box Pentest means choosing close collaboration between the organization and the pentest service provider. This is because the organization must provide the service provider with full access to the target system, which may raise privacy concerns.

  • Confidentiality: Providing full access to the target system may raise privacy concerns, as the service provider may access sensitive information, such as source code or personal data of customers. It is important to take steps to protect this information from disclosure.
  • Liability: The close collaboration between the organization and the service provider may give rise to questions of liability in the event of harm caused by the test. It is important to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each party before the test begins.

Risk of disclosure of sensitive information

Performing a White Box Pentest may result in the disclosure of sensitive information, such as source code or personal customer data. It is important to take steps to protect this information from disclosure.

  • Protection of sensitive information: It is important to take steps to protect sensitive information from disclosure, such as data encryption and the use of access control measures.
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Examples of possible Pentest White Box

Analysis of the source code of a web application

A company wants to have the security of its web application assessed. The organization provides the pentesting service provider with the source code of the application. The pentester analyzes the source code and identifies several vulnerabilities, including:

  • An SQL injection which could allow an attacker to steal data from the application.
  • A cross-site scripting vulnerability that could allow an attacker to inject malicious code into the application.
  • A memory leak vulnerability that could allow an attacker to access sensitive data.

Scanning a company's network

A company wishes to have the security of its computer network assessed. The pentesting service provider uses scanning tools to identify network vulnerabilities, including:

  • Unsecured open ports, which could be used by an attacker to gain access to the network.
  • Insecure services, which could be exploited by an attacker to compromise the network.
  • Configuration vulnerabilities, which could allow an attacker to access or exploit the network.

Manual testing of an information system

An organization wishes to have the security of its information system assessed. The pentesting service provider manually tests the system to identify vulnerabilities, including:

  • Social engineering vulnerabilities, which could allow an attacker to trick a user into obtaining sensitive information.
  • Exploitation vulnerabilities, which could allow an attacker to take control of the system.
  • Configuration vulnerabilities, which could allow an attacker to access or exploit the system.

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