With the increase of blockchain adoption across India’s DeFi, NFT, and crypto exchanges, cyber crimes have surged exponentially, and with it, the need for efficient web3 penetration testing. In 2025’s first quarter itself, web3 platforms have lost nearly $2 billion, with a significant increase in breaches and incidents.
Vulnerabilities in smart contracts, poorly secured bridges, and misconfigured wallet integrations are some reasons that contribute to the increase in Web3 attacks. Now, if you combine that with vague regulations and unskilled or inexperienced professionals offering solutions, it becomes clear why security leaders across the country are prioritising proactive, intelligent penetration testing.
However, unlike traditional web apps, securing decentralised systems demands more than a scan-and-report approach. Web3 infrastructure is persistent, composable, and often immutable. That means a single oversight can result in irreversible financial loss.
In this blog, we offer a step-by-step guide to Web3 penetration testing. We provide information on what it is, what threats to expect, what tools to use, and how experienced pen testing companies like Qualysec approach the challenge.
Web3 Penetration Testing: What Is It?
Web3 Penetration Testing (Pen Testing) is the process of evaluating the security of decentralised applications (dApps), smart contracts, and blockchain infrastructure. This is done through controlled and authorised simulated attacks. The aim is to identify and fix vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious attackers.
Web3 pentest as a service involves both manual review and automated tools. Here, manual auditing of smart contracts remains essential due to the complexity and irreversibility of blockchain actions.
Why Traditional Penetration Testing Doesn’t Work for Web3?
Most traditional penetration testing methods were built for centralised systems. These models assume temporary states, controlled access layers, and the ability to patch and redeploy. And that is exactly why they fail with Web3 pen testing.
In decentralised applications, logic is on-chain. Here, web3 vulnerabilities mean transactions are transparent, public, and irreversible and smart contracts do not need intermediaries. Wallets manage millions in digital assets from browser extensions or mobile apps. These systems create a radically different security landscape.
In this table, we showcase how traditional testing differs from Web3 pen testing.
| Traditional Testing | Web3 Pentesting |
| Targets centralised, session-based systems | Targets decentralised, persistent blockchain logic |
| Patching is a straightforward post-deploy | Often, smart contracts are immutable after deployment |
| Focuses on authentication, input validation | Focuses on logic flaws, on-chain computation, oracles |
Different Types of Web3 Penetration Testing
Due to the modular nature of the Web3 platforms, penetration testing is often segmented. Take a look at these core penetration tests that pen testing companies do.
1. Smart Contract Audits:
- Focus on logic, permissions, token mechanics, and state transitions.
- Detect flaws like reentrancy, overflow/underflow, access misconfigurations, or unchecked token issuance.
- Critical for DeFi protocols, token projects, and immutable deployments.
2. API & Node Testing
- Examines RPC endpoints, admin panels, backend APIs, and cloud-hosted infrastructure.
- Look for misconfigurations, exposed credentials, replay vulnerabilities, or access bypasses.
- Vital for platforms relying on off-chain computation or custom backend services.
3. Oracle Testing
- Tests the integrity and security of external data feeds used by smart contracts.
- Identifies manipulation risks, source dependency issues, timing exploits, or stale data attacks.
- Key for DeFi platforms using price oracles for lending, liquidation, or collateral logic.
4. Wallet Security Testing
- Assess session handling, signing flows, key storage, and transaction approval mechanisms.
- Flag risks like transaction deception, permission escalation, seed phrase leakage, or signing abuse.
- Critical for platforms integrating direct wallet actions or custodial models.
Step-by-Step Methodology for Web3 Penetration Testing
Effective Web3 penetration testing is not limited to running tools against a blockchain interface. It is a structured, repeatable process that simulates how real attackers operate.
Here’s a breakdown of the methodology for Web3 penetration testing:
1. Scoping & Asset Discovery
In this step, it is established what needs to be tested. It can be smart contracts, wallet flows, APIs, oracles, bridges, or infrastructure. After that, mapping of the environments is done along with collecting necessary permissions and addresses.
2. Threat Modelling & Reconnaissance
The next step includes the creation of a threat model, which is based on the dApp’s architecture, known exploits, and business logic. After that, the experts identify high-risk flows like token transfers, governance actions, liquidity withdrawals, or cross-chain transactions.
3. Static & Dynamic Analysis
After that, experts use static analysis tools (e.g. Slither) to review smart contract code for known patterns. It is also important to run dynamic tests (e.g. using Echidna or Manticore) to trigger on-chain logic under edge-case inputs.
4. Manual Testing & Exploit Simulation
In the next step, manual reviews are done on contract behaviour, transaction flows, and privilege escalations. Experts simulate attacks such as reentrancy, flash loan abuse, oracle manipulation, and signature forgery.
5. Infrastructure & Frontend Security Assessment
After that, we move to auditing of API endpoints, RPC access, admin panels, and wallet UI flows for traditional web threats. It is also critical to check for XSS, phishing vectors, weak authentication, and configuration flaws in backend services.
6. Post-Exploitation & Persistence Testing
When all that is done, experts assess how attackers might maintain access after an initial exploit. Few examples include hijacking governance, minting tokens, etc.
7. Reporting & Remediation Guidance
In this stage, experts provide a comprehensive report with a list of vulnerabilities, risk levels, exploit reproduction steps, and recommendations to resolve them. It is important to ensure that the reporting is in sync with ISO 27001, SOC2, and other relevant compliance standards.
8. Testing Again & Final Verification
In the last step, pen testers rerun targeted tests to confirm that vulnerabilities are resolved after developers apply fixes. Thereafter, a final verification report is sent.
Latest Penetration Testing Report
Tools Used in Web3 Penetration Testing
It is important to understand that using one tool cannot secure a decentralised application. For efficient and secure Web3 pen testing, you need to use a well-selected tech stack.
Here are some of the most popular web3 security tools used by professional Web3 pen testing experts –
- Slither (Static Analysis): Identifies known vulnerability patterns, code smells, and unused variables in Solidity contracts.
- MythX (Security Analysis as a Service): Cloud-based scanner that runs symbolic execution and taint analysis.
- Manticore (Symbolic Execution): An advanced tool that simulates contract behaviour across thousands of possible execution paths.
- Brownie (Python Framework): Helpful in scripting exploits and writing reproducible tests during engagement.
- Foundry & Hardhat (Development & Test Frameworks): Used for contract deployment, mocking attacker behaviour, running test suites, and simulating full blockchain environments.
Why Qualysec Is a Trusted Web3 Pen Testing Partner?
Choosing the right Web3 pen testing partner is not a choice but a necessity. The right partner is your last line of defence (preferably a firm that knows different Web3 penetration techniques), and making a smart decision ensures you don’t lose everything to malicious cyber attacks.
Here’s why Qualysec is the ideal Web3 pentesting service provider –
- Proven Web3 Experience: With more than 4 years of industry experience, Qualysec has audited DeFi protocols, bridges, NFT platforms, and wallet integrations.
- Hybrid Testing Approach: We are not just satisfied with tool-only testing. In fact, that’s not how we work at all. Our experts combine static/dynamic analysis tools with manual exploit simulation tailored to your protocol logic.
- Certified & Skilled Team: We take great pride in our team of skilled testers with years of industry expertise and a proven track record.
- Compliance-Ready Reporting: Our developer-friendly reporting enables fast remediation. We don’t just list vulnerabilities and leave it up to you.
- NDA Protection: You are giving access to sensitive code and architecture, and we respect that. As a leading firm, we have clear confidentiality protocols in place and a track record of responsible disclosure.
Qualysec doesn’t overpromise or underdeliver. Our experts test smart, go deep, and guide our clients toward actual security maturity.
Talk to our experts today!
Talk to our Cybersecurity Expert to discuss your specific needs and how we can help your business.
Conclusion
When it comes to Web3 security isn’t just something to tick off the checklist – it’s absolutely essential. For example, if a smart contract fails, the chain doesn’t roll back, or if a wallet leak happens, you cannot simply use the “forgot password” option.
That is why choosing the best Web3 penetration testing service provider is important. You need to opt for security partners that perform deep, protocol-aware testing along with real attacker simulation.
This is where Qualysec steps in. Our experts provide in-depth penetration testing services, helping you safeguard your assets before someone attacks them.
Want to know more about our Web3 penetration testing services? Get in touch with our experts today!
FAQs:
Q. Does penetration testing require coding?
Not a necessity, however, it is always good to have some coding skills while doing penetration testing. Testers can use code to automate different tasks and speed up the timeline.
Q. Can you rely on Qualysec to help you with Web3 pentesting?
Yes, of course! With more than 600 assessments completed and 150+ global clients, Qualysec has built a reputation for itself. You can definitely trust us to be your reliable Web3 pentesting partner.
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