What is Web3 Penetration Testing?

A Detailed Guide to Web3 Penetration Testing

Web3 represents a new type of Internet that leverages blockchain technology, smart contracts, and dApps for decentralization. It aims to create a more secure, democratic, and transparent version of the web. 

Compared to traditional web applications, web3 applications rely on a distributed network of nodes for transaction authentication along with additional transaction processing.

However, security has emerged as a major issue for web3, mainly due to its use of smart contracts. Even a comprehensive web3 security audit can miss known vulnerabilities such as complete attacks, denial of service attacks, and re-entry attacks. 

Furthermore, decentralization in Web3 applications also poses a dire security concern because the applications may not have a centralized server or management to ensure security.

Furthermore, web3 is largely open source in nature, allowing hackers to access the code and unlock malware.

You may be thinking about addressing web3 security issues as they can impose a heavy burden of financial loss. Surprisingly, you can find a possible answer to avoid web3 security issues during penetration testing. 

Penetration testing for web3 applications helps evaluate dApps smart contracts along with other web3 components to identify vulnerabilities and potential attack sites.

You need to understand the importance of Web3 Penetration Testing, its different variants, and the methodology for penetration testing in web3 applications. Let’s learn more about Penetration Testing in Web3 and how it works.

What is the Web3 Penetration Test?

Access testing or pentest in web3 is similar to the procedures followed for security testing in web2 applications.

Anyone interested in learning web3 should know that web3 has received significant improvement in development power. 

Many companies and developers want to use web3 technologies and standards to embrace the decentralized web. 

Web 3.0 is a revolutionary paradigm that is changing the way industries as diverse as finance, gaming, and supply chain management work.

The number of web3 startups is steadily increasing along with the ever-expanding amounts of investment in web3. 

However, the increasing popularity of web3 also paves the way for web3 errors, which lead to irreversible consequences. 

If you look at the latest news related to web3 security, you will find that web3 security problems can cause huge losses.

For example, the total revenue loss due to the web3 security breach will be over $3.5 billion by 2022. 

Furthermore, reports show that losses due to Web3 security flaws will exceed $650 million in the first six months of 2023. 

Therefore, it is important to explore proactive methods that help protect the integrity of user data, currencies, and blockchain architecture.

Penetration testing is the most powerful of Web3 security tools that can do more to protect Web3 applications and users. 

Penetration testing on Web3 is a comprehensive process to assess the security of smart contracts, blockchain networks, and dApps. 

The proposed approach to penetration testing in web3 focuses on simulating real-world attacks to identify weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the web3 landscape.

Difference Between Traditional Penetration Testing and Web3 Penetration Testing

Web3 penetration tests are different from traditional penetration tests. The first difference is evident in web3 applications running in decentralized environments, which present specific security risks. 

For example, smart contract vulnerabilities can open up new attack surfaces for hackers. Additionally, web3 applications also follow different protocols and interfaces such as JSON-RPC, which require specialist testing skills and equipment.

Another difference between web3 and web2 access tests is the use of blockchain technology. You know web3, you can tell that web3 applications have inherent security features. 

However, the underlying security features cannot protect web3 applications from vulnerabilities in the code or mechanisms that integrate with the blockchain.

Above all, you should focus on specific control requirements for web3 during penetration testing. For example, DeFi applications must comply with financial regulations for their misconduct.

Types of Web-Based Entrance Tests3

The next discussion topic in the guide on Penetration Testing on Web3 deals with Penetration Testing Variants. 

You should note that penetration tests simulate an attack on Web3 systems and networks to identify vulnerabilities. 

At the same time, you can face three different types of web penetration tests to reduce web3 security risks. 

Here is an outline of the different types of penetration tests performed on Web3.

External network access testing

The aforementioned network penetration tests focus on identifying vulnerabilities in perimeter defenses for web3 applications.

In this type of penetration testing, you can get simulations of attacks from external threat actors. Testing helps determine the effectiveness of security mechanisms such as web application firewalls, firewalls, and access detection systems. 

External network access testing can help identify critical vulnerabilities such as weak password policies, open ports, and unpatched software.

Deep network penetration tests

The next variant of penetration testing to detect web3 vulnerabilities is internal network penetration testing. 

Internal network penetration tests work by simulating scenarios where a malicious user gains access to the internal network of web3 applications. 

These types of penetration tests focus on identifying internal vulnerabilities such as poorly configured access policies, improper network segmentation, and insecure databases.

Application Penetration Testing

Web3 security professionals should also focus on application access testing to find vulnerabilities in the application. 

Application penetration tests are a mandatory addition to Web3 security auditing to help identify security issues such as authentication bypass, SQL injection, or cross-site scripting. 

Additional penetration testing is a powerful tool to protect privacy while preventing unauthorized access.

What are the other components of Web3 penetration tests?

Penetration testing in Web3 focuses on simulating attacks on non-Web3 applications, their internal networks, and the application’s perimeter. 

You can find other components in penetration tests that help detect many types of vulnerabilities in Web3.

Components of Web3 penetration testing include smart contract audits, blockchain testing, wallet software testing, and DevOps penetration testing. 

Each component plays a key role in web3 penetration testing by looking at different aspects of web3 for security issues. 

Let’s look at the important areas of testing each web3 component penetration test.

Smart contract audits

The role of smart contracts in the web3 ecosystem cannot be underestimated. 

Smart contract audits are a critical part of the Web3 security audit process, helping to test access control, transaction management dependencies, denial of service vulnerabilities, and other asset management capabilities. 

These common vulnerabilities identified in smart contract audits include timing manipulation, inadequate access controls, re-entry attacks, and small address attacks.

Proof of Blockchain

Penetration-based testing also includes types of blockchain testing that examine key components and potential attack surfaces. 

Blockchain testing includes peer-to-peer protocol vulnerability assessment, blockchain block analysis, RPC verification, and secure RPC routing. 

Common attack surfaces identified in blockchain tests include communication interfaces, OS and services, DevOps, and access control.

Wallet software test

A review of web3 security tools and their importance also highlights the need for wallet software testing. 

Some of the important components involved in wallet software testing include interface design, RPC interface, software dependencies, and configuration management. 

In addition, wallet software testing in Web3 Access Tests also looks at connecting Web3 wallets to third-party nodes and services.

DevOps Entrance Exams

Another popular addition to web penetration tests for Web3 versions is Points in DevOps Penetration Testing. 

DevOps has become an open target for malicious developers due to its large technical footprint and low-security standards. 

Additionally, DevOps also provides exclusive access to modify the source code and deploy it to production.

The primary focus of DevOps penetration testing is to evaluate code repository content and access privileges, privacy management, and access to product deployment. 

DevOps penetration tests also focus on validating CI/CD infrastructure as well as sensitive development components and developer process credentials.

What are popular tools for Web3 penetration tests?

The specific design of web3 applications requires the use of specialized tools for web3 penetration testing. 

You can rely on web3 security tools to help web3 developers and security professionals identify and remediate vulnerabilities. Here are some of the important ones.

Mythril

Mythril is a smart contract security analysis tool for smart contracts implemented on Ethereum. It also provides the flexibility to detect a variety of Web3 vulnerabilities, including logical errors, reentries, and overflow or integer errors.

EthFiddle

EthFiddle is one of the new tools in the web3 security landscape that helps programmers build and test Ethereum smart contracts in a browser-based environment. 

The security testing tool uses various simulation tools along with an integrated debugger to evaluate the smart contract defense posture.

ZAP

Web3 Security Points in ZAP is another important addition between services. Web3 acts as an application security scanner and uses various plugins to test web3 applications.

Concluding Words

An overview of web3 penetration testing shows that it is an effective technique for securing web3 applications. The Web3 ban was a huge disappointment to developers and the wider Web3 community due to the huge financial loss. 

On top of that, the decentralized and open-source nature of web3 exposes web3 applications to a variety of security risks. Users can find effective countermeasures to avoid such security risks through penetration testing.

It is important to understand that Web3 penetration tests may deviate from traditional penetration testing in some respects. 

However, the ultimate process of penetration testing revolves around simulating attacks to ensure the resilience of web applications. 

Penetration testing is a great boost to the web3 development landscape and will encourage the growth of web3 applications.