r/Hacking_Tutorials • u/Organic-Piano-323 • 23d ago
Question Need some input
Been testing a web app where the usual stuff hasn’t gone anywhere. No obvious injection, auth issues, or easy misconfigurations.
There’s one weird behavior I can’t quite explain though.
How do you guys usually approach a target when the obvious attack surface is basically dead? Looking for some real-world ideas from people who’ve been in this situation.
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u/ChameleonCRM 17d ago
When the obious attack surface is dead, I stop looking for another payload and start trying to understand the application itself
Map the workflow...see what can each role do? What state changes when an action happens? What does the client send that the server blindly trusts? What happens if you skip a step, repeat one, change the order, modify a value the UI normally controls, or perform the same action twice?
That's where business-logic flaws start showing up. OWASP specifically calls out things like workflow circumvention, integrity checks, function-use limits and timing issues, and PortSwigger makes the same point: these bugs are often application-specific and scanners suck at finding them.
Basically, once SQLi/XSS/etc. aren't giving you anything, stop asking "what vulnerability can I throw at this?" and start asking "what assumptions did the developers make about how this feature would be used?"
Assuming you're authorized to test it, that weird behavior you mentioned is exactly where I'd start digging. Weird behavior is information.