Are you looking for an expert tutorial on Umbraco Pen testing? By performing a pen test, one can easily mitigate risk from potential threats by identifying the security vulnerabilities in your Umbraco CMS platform. Umbraco is a .NET Framework developed open-source CMS platform. However, it also lacks many potential vulnerabilities that may act as an entrance for hackers in your application. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly perform VAPT for your Umbraco CMS. Now, let us start by having a short discussion on the importance of performing a pen test for this CMS platform.

Why is it Necessary to Perform VAPT on Umbraco CMS?

There are many generic reasons to perform pen testing on Umbraco CMS, such as preventing downtime of the business caused by cyberattacks, misconfiguration, data protection laws, etc. Now, let us follow up on a real-world example that teaches us about how serious it is to take VAPT for Umbraco CMS.

Recently, on the Umbraco discussion forums, come up with a problem was raised by Katie, saying that the website on Umbraco got hacked. The user mentioned that when clicking the link for the site through Google, some code is redirecting it to another path. But when they checked it in CMS, they could not find such code.

Common Security Vulnerabilities Found in Umbraco CMS

• SQL Injection: Poor input validation can allow hackers to inject or manipulate the database queries.
• Cross-Site Scripting: Hackers use this technique to inject malicious scripts into input fields or comments.
• Authentication By-Pass: Weak authentication credentials or broken authentication logic may provide a path for hackers to enter your Umbraco application.
• Sensitive Information Disclosure: Exposure to sensitive files from a server, like (web.config
• Insecure File Uploads: Insecure file uploads via the media library allow hackers to inject malicious files into your system.

Structured Guidance of Umbraco CMS Pen Testing

To start the pen testing of Umbraco CMS, we do not follow all seven phases of pen testing. Follow the steps provided below to perform Umbraco CMS pen testing.

1. First, gather Umbraco CMS Details, like version, plugins, theme, and extensions.
2. Now, check the server and CMS configuration and review that no crucial files are publicly disclosed, like web.config.
3. After that, for authentication testing, use brute force authentication attempts, try cookie hijacking, and check password strength polices.
4. Thereafter, test for SQL Injection, Command Injection, XSS, and CSRF attacks and use fuzzing tools to find unhandled inputs.
5. Next, try to upload malicious files and validate role-based access controls.
6. Then, scan third-party plugins for known vulnerabilities and remove or update unused/unsupported plugins.
7. Finally, document identified vulnerabilities, provide proof-of-concept (POC) for high-flaw vulnerabilities, and mention recommended steps to mitigate Umbraco security vulnerabilities.

Best Tools for Performing Pentesting on Umbraco

• Burp Suite
• OWASP ZAP
• OpenVAS
• Nikto
• SQLMap
• Nmap

Best Practices to Secure Umbraco CMS from Security Threats

• Always keep updated with the latest Umbraco version to get updated with all the security and patch updates.
• Use HTTPS and TLS for secure communication between the server and the web.
• Implement strong password policies and enable multi-factor authentication for an additional layer of security.
• Restrict admin panel access to a specific IP address and regularly backup your data.
• Regularly perform VAPT yourself or via some trusted Cybersecurity Services.

Final Words

In conclusion to the above blog on the topic of how to perform a pen test on Umbraco CMS. We have started by discussing a real-world example to explain the importance of VAPT for this CMS. Secondly, we have seen some of the common Umbraco CMS security vulnerabilities found in it. Thereafter, we have seen a structured guide to perform VAPT on Umbraco CMS and the tools required to perform it. Lastly, we have discussed the practices needed to follow to secure Umbraco CMS from security threats.