SEC542: Web App Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking

SEC542: Web App Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking

Course Overview
If an organization does not properly test and secure its web applications, adversaries can compromise critical systems, steal data, disrupt operations, and trigger regulatory fallout. Many still rely only on vulnerability scanners and assume these tools will reliably uncover real-world flaws.

SEC542 shows you how to move beyond push-button tools and perform focused, high-value web application penetration tests. You will learn a repeatable methodology to assess both Internet-facing and internal business applications that support sensitive workflows and data.

Through hands-on labs, you will practice finding and exploiting vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, XSS, deserialization bugs, SSRF, and file inclusion, then communicate business impact to stakeholders. This course lays a practical foundation in web application security; it will not make you an expert in a week, but it gives you the skills, process, and mindset to keep improving long after class ends.

SEC542 Web App Penetration Testing builds a complete methodology for testing modern web applications. Rather than teaching isolated tricks, the course walks students from reconnaissance and mapping through exploitation and reporting, using the OWASP Web Security Testing Guide as a backbone and a rich set of hands-on labs.

Early sections focus on understanding how the web actually works. Students review HTTP requests and responses, headers, cookies, and HTTP methods, then study how TLS and certificate configuration affect security. Using intercepting proxies such as Burp Suite and OWASP ZAP, they learn to profile targets, enumerate attack surface, and spot configuration weaknesses that scanners and simple browsing often miss.

The course then moves into fuzzing, scanning, and APIs. Students practice input fuzzing with tools like ffuf and proxy-based scanners to discover hidden content and parameter-driven behavior. They work with web APIs, OpenAPI definitions, and tools such as Bruno to understand how API design and authentication create a new attack surface. Along the way, they analyze common authentication mechanisms and identity protocols, including JSON Web Tokens, and see where implementation patterns introduce risk.

Identity and access control weaknesses receive dedicated attention. Students perform username harvesting, blind and non-blind, and tie that work to password spraying and account lockout testing. They explore authentication bypass flaws such as parameter tampering and direct page access, then move into authorization issues, including broken object-level and function-level authorization and both vertical and horizontal privilege escalation. Client-side attacks complement these themes, with coverage of DOM behavior, browser developer tools, DOM-based XSS, and the Browser Exploitation Framework BeEF.

Subsequent sections dive into server-side exploitation. Students investigate prototype pollution and see how manipulating JavaScript inheritance can lead to business logic abuse. They perform error-based SQL injection, blind techniques, and out-of-band database injection, then apply comparable techniques to NoSQL injection. Labs combine Burp Suite, sqlmap, curl, John the Ripper, and CeWL to automate exploitation, steal sensitive data such as credit card numbers, dump hashes, and crack high-value credentials. Command injection labs cover both visible and blind scenarios, using Burp Collaborator, DNS-based exfiltration techniques, and custom Python tools built with the help of ChatGPT.

The course also addresses SSRF and XML External Entity vulnerabilities. Students use fuzzing and error analysis to drive SSRF attacks that lead to database identification and retrieval of selected columns. XXE labs show how misconfigured XML handling can expose local files, retrieve remote content, and execute system commands, reinforcing the importance of secure parser configuration.

Students write Python scripts that use the Requests and httpx libraries to automate common testing tasks, such as inspecting response headers and brute forcing directories. Insecure deserialization labs cover Java deserialization and Python pickling, showing how chained information leakage, file inclusion, and serialization flaws can be combined to read secret files and achieve remote code execution. Server-side template injection is explored through hands-on proof-of-concept work that escalates from simple template output to file access and code execution.

Client-side trust boundaries are reinforced in Cross Site Request Forgery labs, where students create, weaponize, and automate CSRF exploits that change administrative passwords and other settings. Additional exercises focus on file upload handling and web shells, where students bypass upload controls and deploy server-side payloads. A Metasploit Framework lab introduces practical use of msfconsole, exploitation of a WordPress plugin vulnerability, interaction with a PHP Meterpreter payload, and saving looted files from the compromised target.

Finally, SEC542 ties the technical content back to real pentesting work. Students discuss security logging and monitoring failures, examine issues that can lead to logic flaws in web applications, and look at the OWASP Top 10 for LLM applications to understand how large language model components change risk profiles. Business-focused material on penetration testing preparation and post-assessment activities helps students plan and scope engagements, define rules of engagement, communicate with stakeholders, and turn technical findings into clear reports, executive summaries, and debriefs that support follow-up and continuous improvement.

By the end of the course, students have a repeatable process for assessing web applications and a deep catalog of hands-on experience across the vulnerabilities that matter in modern environments. SEC542 is designed to build practical skills rather than offer shortcuts, and it equips students with the mindset and workflow needed to continue sharpening their web application testing abilities long after class finishes.