Common Vulnerabilities Found During Australian Pen Tests
Penetration testing has become a critical component of modern cyber security strategy across Australia. From fast-growing SaaS startups to established enterprises and government departments, organisations are increasingly investing in proactive security assessments to uncover weaknesses before attackers do.
Yet despite advancements in tooling, frameworks and awareness, many Australian penetration tests continue to reveal familiar vulnerabilities. Whether the assessment focuses on external infrastructure, internal networks, cloud environments or web applications, certain patterns emerge time and again.
For businesses leveraging a modern SaaS cyber security solution, understanding these recurring issues is essential. It’s not simply about passing a pen test — it’s about strengthening long-term resilience and reducing real-world risk.
Here are the most common vulnerabilities uncovered during Australian pen tests, and what they mean for your organisation.
Misconfigured Cloud Environments
Cloud adoption across Australia has accelerated rapidly, particularly with platforms such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. However, speed often outpaces security governance. Pen testers frequently identify:
- Publicly exposed storage buckets
- Overly permissive IAM roles
- Unrestricted administrative access
- Open management ports (e.g. RDP, SSH) exposed to the internet
Many of these issues are not the result of malicious intent — they’re configuration oversights. But attackers actively scan for these weaknesses, and exploitation can happen within hours of exposure. The takeaway? Cloud security requires continuous configuration review, not a once-off setup.
Weak Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Identity remains one of the most exploited attack vectors in Australia. During pen tests, assessors commonly discover:
- Lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) on critical systems
- Shared administrative accounts
- Excessive user privileges
- Dormant accounts still enabled
- Weak password policies
In many engagements, testers successfully gain elevated access not through sophisticated zero-day exploits, but through poor credential hygiene. Strong IAM practices — including least privilege principles and enforced MFA — are among the highest-impact security improvements an organisation can make.
Outdated and Unpatched Software
Despite years of guidance from the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), unpatched systems remain widespread. Common findings include:
- Outdated content management systems (CMS)
- Unsupported operating systems
- Unpatched VPN appliances
- Legacy internal applications with known vulnerabilities
Attackers routinely weaponise known CVEs. If a vulnerability is publicly documented, it is almost certainly being actively exploited somewhere. Patch management remains one of the most cost-effective controls in cyber security — yet it continues to appear in penetration test reports across industries.
Web Application Security Flaws
Application-layer vulnerabilities are among the most frequently identified issues during pen tests, particularly for organisations offering customer portals, online booking systems or eCommerce platforms. Typical findings include:
- SQL injection vulnerabilities
- Cross-site scripting (XSS)
- Insecure direct object references (IDOR)
- Insufficient input validation
- Insecure file upload functionality
While many Australian development teams adopt secure coding practices, security testing is sometimes left until late in the development lifecycle. By then, remediation can be more complex and costly. Embedding security testing into DevOps workflows significantly reduces this risk.
Insecure API Endpoints
As Australian businesses embrace integration and microservices architecture, APIs have become a major attack surface. Pen testers often uncover:
- Missing authentication controls
- Weak token validation
- Excessive data exposure in API responses
- Rate limiting misconfigurations
Because APIs are designed for machine-to-machine communication, they may not receive the same visibility and scrutiny as front-end web applications — yet they often expose highly sensitive data. API security must be treated as a first-class concern, not an afterthought.
Insufficient Network Segmentation
Internal penetration testing engagements frequently reveal flat network architectures. Once testers gain a foothold — often through phishing simulations or compromised credentials — they can move laterally with surprising ease. Common issues include:
- No separation between user workstations and critical servers
- Poor firewall rule hygiene
- Lack of internal monitoring
- Open SMB shares with excessive permissions
Network segmentation significantly limits the blast radius of a breach. Without it, a single compromised device can quickly escalate into a full-scale incident.
Email and Phishing Vulnerabilities
Phishing remains one of the most successful attack methods in Australia. During social engineering assessments, testers frequently achieve high click-through rates, particularly where security awareness training is inconsistent. Technical weaknesses often compound the issue:
- Missing or misconfigured SPF, DKIM and DMARC records
- Lack of advanced email filtering
- No enforced MFA following credential capture
Pen tests consistently show that technical controls and staff training must work together. One without the other leaves exploitable gaps.
Poor Logging and Monitoring Capabilities
One of the more concerning patterns in Australian pen test reports is not just that vulnerabilities exist — but that organisations would not detect exploitation if it occurred. Common findings include:
- No centralised log management
- Inadequate alerting thresholds
- Lack of endpoint detection and response (EDR)
- No clear incident response playbooks
Security is not solely about prevention. Detection and response capability is equally critical. A vulnerability that is identified quickly can be contained. One that goes unnoticed can evolve into a significant breach.
Third-Party and Supply Chain Risks
Many Australian organisations rely on external vendors, SaaS providers and managed service providers. Pen testers increasingly evaluate these integrations. Common issues include:
- Over-trusting vendor network connections
- Insecure single sign-on integrations
- Excessive data sharing between systems
- Lack of vendor security due diligence
Supply chain attacks are no longer theoretical. They are an established and growing threat vector, particularly for organisations in finance, health, education and government.
Why These Vulnerabilities Persist
If these weaknesses are well known, why do they continue to appear? Several factors contribute:
- Rapid digital transformation outpacing security governance
- Limited in-house security expertise
- Over-reliance on perimeter-based controls
- Security seen as a compliance exercise rather than an operational priority
Penetration testing does not create vulnerabilities — it reveals the reality of an organisation’s security posture at a point in time. The most mature organisations treat pen test results not as a report card, but as actionable intelligence for continuous improvement.
Moving Beyond the Report
A penetration test should never be the end of the conversation. It should initiate structured remediation, governance improvements and long-term security strategy refinement. Australian businesses that consistently perform well in pen tests typically share common traits:
- Executive-level visibility into cyber risk
- Clearly defined ownership of remediation actions
- Ongoing vulnerability management programs
- Integrated security into development and cloud operations
- Regular reassessment cycles
Ultimately, the goal is not simply to “pass” a pen test — it is to build resilience against real-world adversaries.
Penetration testing across Australia continues to uncover many of the same vulnerabilities year after year
The good news is that most of these weaknesses are preventable with disciplined governance, strong identity controls, proactive patching and continuous monitoring. The organisations that thrive in today’s threat landscape are those that treat security as an evolving capability — not a one-off audit exercise.
If your next penetration test revealed uncomfortable truths, that’s not failure. It’s clarity. And clarity is the first step toward stronger, more resilient cyber security.
