The Ultimate Guide to Penetration Testing Reports: What You Need to Know

Penetration testing reports aren’t just paperwork, they are your playbook for understanding your security infrastructure. They show you what’s exploitable, what’s fixable, and what demands immediate action.

With data breaches averaging $4.45 million in losses (IBM, 2023), you can’t afford to miss the warning signs.

In this guide, we break down what a pen test report includes, why it matters, and how to evaluate its quality.

What Is a Penetration Testing Report

A penetration testing report is a formal document that presents the results of a simulated cyberattack. It highlights vulnerabilities, evaluates their severity, and provides clear recommendations to fix them. 

Typically prepared by an internal security team or an external penetration testing provider, this report is shared with technical teams, security leadership, and compliance stakeholders. Know about the best penetration testing services and how they can help you get a pentest done.

A strong pen test report goes beyond technical accuracy. It should cater to various stakeholders from developers and executives to auditors and regulators.

The report is usually structured to offer both a high-level summary and detailed technical findings. This format helps support strategic decision-making while guiding effective technical remediation.

Benefits of Penetration Testing Report

‍

‍

The penetration testing report is crucial for stakeholders, such as company executives, developers, customers, vendors, and compliance bodies, providing valuable insights into vulnerabilities and security improvements. Below are the key benefits for both companies and security analysts.

Helps prioritize security risks with comprehensive evaluation

Penetration testing reports provide a detailed assessment of vulnerabilities across your network, applications, and websites. 

This evaluation highlights potential impacts, severity, and remediation steps, enabling CTOs to focus on the most critical risks.

For security analysts, it offers a roadmap to identify high-priority vulnerabilities and implement targeted remediation strategies, ensuring a focused approach to securing the system.

Avoid future vulnerabilities with secure code writing practices

Penetration testing reports guide developers in adopting secure coding practices by uncovering exploitable flaws in the code. This ensures that the most critical vulnerabilities are addressed and fixed promptly.

For security analysts, this serves as a proactive measure to reduce the chances of recurring vulnerabilities, leading to smoother development cycles with fewer debugging and re-coding efforts in the future.

Track year-on-year progress to monitor and improve security

The pentest report provides a baseline for monitoring security improvements over time. By identifying recurring issues, it allows organizations to focus on continuous security monitoring and ongoing enhancements to the security framework.

For security analysts, the report acts as a tool to assess the effectiveness of past remediation measures and identify areas that require further attention, ensuring a proactive approach to evolving security needs.

Adhere to security benchmarks to ensure compliance

Penetration testing reports help businesses meet industry standards like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR by identifying vulnerabilities that could hinder compliance efforts. These reports provide the necessary documentation for compliance audits and demonstrate remediation actions. 

Build trust with customers to demonstrate commitment to transparency

For businesses, providing customers with these reports reassures them that their data is protected and demonstrates that the company is actively working on maintaining a high level of security.

Key Sections of a Penetration Testing Report

A penetration testing (pentest) report is a document that outlines the security vulnerabilities discovered during a pentest. The goal of this report is to identify the weaknesses, guide businesses on how to fix them and mitigate risks. 

A well-structured pentest report helps security professionals and decision-makers prioritize their efforts and resources. 

Here’s a detailed look at the key components of a comprehensive penetration testing report:

SECTION 1: Executive Summary to provide an overview for non-technical stakeholders

The executive summary is the first section of the report, providing a high-level overview meant for business stakeholders, particularly those with limited technical expertise. This section condenses the key findings and gives an accessible snapshot of the testing outcomes.

1. About the Pentester: This section introduces the security professionals who conducted the pentest. It highlights their qualifications, such as certifications and experience. 

2. Overview: In this section, the report summarizes the findings of the pentest in a brief but comprehensive manner. It touches on the types of vulnerabilities discovered, their risk levels, and the overall security of the organization. 

This is a key section for executives, as it gives them a quick view of the company's current security standing and outlines areas that need attention.

SECTION 2: Methodology and scope to outline testing procedures and boundaries

The methodology and scope section details the techniques, tools, and approaches used, ensuring that stakeholders understand how the pentest was performed and the boundaries within which it was executed.

1. Tools and Techniques: Here, the report lists the specific tools and techniques used during the pentest. This includes both automated tools (like scanners) and manual methods (like social engineering or manual code review).

It also explains the types of attacks or tests conducted, such as network penetration testing, web application testing, or mobile application testing.

2. Scope: The scope defines the exact systems, networks, or applications that were tested, as well as any exclusions. For example, the pentest may have focused on web applications but excluded mobile applications. 

It has clear details of what was in scope, including the type of testing (black-box, white-box, grey-box), test dates, constraints, and business goals.

It covers the timeframe of the test and any limitations imposed, such as restricted testing hours, lack of access to certain data, or any systems that were off-limits due to operational reasons.

SECTION 3: Findings and vulnerabilities to prioritize risks

This is the most crucial section of the report, where the pentesting team categorizes and explains the vulnerabilities discovered. It provides a comprehensive breakdown of each finding, its potential impact, and how to fix it.

1. Description: For each identified vulnerability, the report provides a detailed description. This includes how the vulnerability works, its potential impact, and the conditions under which it can be exploited by attackers. 

For example, a SQL injection vulnerability might be explained in terms of how it allows attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands on a vulnerable database.

2. Affected components: This part identifies the specific systems, applications, or components that are vulnerable. It could list the URL, IP address, network ports, or even specific user accounts or services that were impacted by the vulnerability.
   
3. Severity: Each vulnerability is categorized by its severity, which reflects the potential impact it could have on the organization. Severity levels typically include critical, high, medium, low, or informational. 

Critical vulnerabilities may allow attackers to take full control of a system, while low-severity issues may be less urgent but still important to address.

4. Status: Describes the current state of the vulnerability, such as unsolved, solved, or under review.
   
5. Risk score: Each vulnerability is assigned a numerical risk score based on factors such as its exploitability, severity, and potential business impact. This helps prioritize vulnerabilities for remediation. 

Popular scoring models include CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System), which ranges from 0.0 (no risk) to 10.0 (critical risk). A high score indicates a vulnerability that should be addressed immediately.

6. CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration): This section assigns a unique identifier to the vulnerability based on the Common Weakness Enumeration system, which classifies vulnerabilities and software weaknesses.
   
7. Compliance labels: If any vulnerabilities violate industry standards or regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS, they will be tagged here. 

This helps businesses understand the compliance implications of the vulnerability and prioritize remediation to avoid legal or financial penalties.

8. Proof of concept: For critical vulnerabilities, a proof of concept (PoC) is included. This could be a screenshot, code snippet, or video demonstrating how an attacker could exploit the vulnerability. It helps stakeholders visualize the risk and understand its potential impact.
   
9. Steps to reproduce: This section provides a step-by-step guide on how to recreate the vulnerability in a controlled environment. 

By understanding how to reproduce the vulnerability, developers and security teams can validate the fix and ensure that it resolves the issue.

10. Suggested Fixes & Remediation: After describing the vulnerability, the report offers specific remediation steps. These could include code changes, configuration updates, or applying patches. 

The goal is to help the organization mitigate the risk effectively and prevent future exploitation.

11. Additional Resources: If needed, this section includes links to external resources like CVE entries, vendor advisories, or white papers. 

These resources provide more in-depth information for those interested in understanding the vulnerability in detail.

SECTION 4: Appendices

The appendices section contains supplementary details that provide additional context but do not need to be included in the main body of the report. These elements enhance the report's usefulness for both technical and non-technical readers.

1. Measurement Scales: This includes explanations of the risk scoring models (like CVSS) or other measurement systems used in the report. 

It ensures that stakeholders understand the criteria for categorizing vulnerabilities and assigning severity levels.

2. Test cases: This section lists additional test cases that were performed during the pentest but not covered in the main findings. 

It provides transparency about all the testing done and offers further insight into the security of the organization's systems.

Various Compliance Standards for Pentest & VAPT Reports

While most industry standards share common core elements in penetration testing reports, individual compliance standards have specific nuances dictated by their legal framework. 

The following are key differences in penetration testing report formats for some of the most common standards:

1. PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)

PCI-DSS requires penetration testing reports to include a detailed vulnerability analysis, with evidence of the testing process used. The report should highlight any violations of PCI compliance standards detected in each vulnerability. 

Additionally, it must provide recommendations for mitigating identified risks to help organizations safeguard sensitive payment data.

2. CREST (Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers)

CREST reports emphasize an executive summary, providing a high-level overview of the pentest results. The detailed findings should include risk ratings for identified vulnerabilities, alongside clear remediation advice tailored to the specific issues discovered during the testing phase. 

3. CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team)

CERT reports focus on the incident disclosure policy, providing a comprehensive assessment of vulnerabilities discovered during the penetration test. 

The report includes recommendations to address these vulnerabilities, with a strong emphasis on helping organizations prepare for and respond to potential cyber threats in a structured manner.

4. FEDRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program)

FEDRAMP-compliant penetration testing reports must include detailed security requirements for the system being tested, the results of the assessment, and a clear remediation plan. These elements are essential for ensuring that federal agencies can trust the security of cloud-based systems before they are approved for use.

5. CHECK (Government's Cybersecurity Certification Scheme for Penetration Testing)

For CHECK reports, the penetration testing report should contain a thorough test plan, outlining the approach taken during the pentest. 

It also includes detailed findings regarding vulnerabilities identified during the assessment, along with step-by-step remediation steps to resolve these vulnerabilities and strengthen the security posture.

Best Practices to Write a Penetrating Testing Report Efficiently

‍

‍

1. Know your audience and tailor with intent
Reports are crafted to suit different stakeholders. Executives receive concise summaries focused on business risk and impact. Technical teams are given in-depth findings, payloads, and remediation steps. When required, we align findings with compliance frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR.

2. Prioritize what can be exploited
Highlight vulnerabilities that are exploitable in the real world. CVSS scores should be combined with threat intelligence, live exploit validation, and contextual risk to help teams focus where it matters.

3. Maintain a clear attacker-driven structure
Our reports follow the logic of a real attack path. From initial access to post-exploitation, we outline how the attacker moved through systems and what could have been compromised. This format improves understanding across both technical and non-technical readers.

4. Support every finding with strong evidence
Each finding includes visual proof such as screenshots, HTTP traces, and command outputs. For more complex chains, we offer optional video walkthroughs. This level of documentation ensures clarity and trust in the reported issues.

5. Provide remediation that drives action
Recommendations are specific, technically feasible, and tied to the affected asset. We explain who should fix it, what steps to take, and how to prevent similar risks in the future. Strategic fixes are included to eliminate root causes rather than just treating symptoms.

6. Review for accuracy, clarity, and value
Before sharing, every report is reviewed by senior AppSecure researchers. We check for technical precision, consistent language, and readability. The result is a clear, validated report that helps teams take immediate and effective action. 

How Can AppSecure Pentest Help?

Red team simulations

Our red teaming exercises simulate targeted attacker behavior to test both technical defenses and human response capabilities.

Actionable Remediation Plans

We provide clear, actionable remediation plans, helping your team take immediate steps to fix vulnerabilities, improve configurations, and strengthen defenses to reduce potential risks.

Continuous Monitoring with Bug Bounty

AppSecure enhances traditional pentesting with our bug bounty program, engaging a global community of ethical hackers. This crowd-sourced testing ensures vulnerabilities are continuously identified and addressed, providing an additional layer of proactive security.

Real-World Attack Simulations

Our pentests simulate real-world attacks, helping you understand how vulnerabilities could be exploited in practice. This realistic approach allows you to address weaknesses before they can be targeted by actual attackers.

Conclusion 

AppSecure's approach to pentesting provides thorough vulnerability identification, actionable remediation plans, and continuous security monitoring. 

According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023, organizations that proactively test their systems save an average of USD 1.49 million per breach. With AppSecure’s expert-led pen testing and bug bounty model, you get faster vulnerability discovery and actionable remediation backed by real-world attack simulations.

Get in touch with our team of experts and get your pentest done today!