MANUAL SECURITY TESTING FOR AI-GENERATED APPS | VIBEEVAL

Why Manual Testing is Essential

Automated tools excel at finding common vulnerabilities like SQL injection and XSS, but miss business logic flaws and application-specific security issues. Manual testing by skilled testers finds critical vulnerabilities that automation cannot detect.

Manual Security Testing Checklist

Follow these 12 steps for thorough manual security testing. Critical items require skilled testers and should be completed before launch.

Business logic testing

Test application-specific workflows for logic flaws that could lead to unauthorized actions or privilege escalation.

Authentication bypass testing

Manually test authentication mechanisms for bypass vulnerabilities that automated tools cannot detect.

Authorization matrix testing

Verify access controls across different user roles and permissions to identify privilege escalation paths.

Session management review

Test session token generation, expiration, fixation, and secure transmission manually.

Input validation testing

Manually craft malicious inputs to test for injection vulnerabilities, XSS, and validation bypass.

File upload testing

Test file upload functionality with malicious files, path traversal attempts, and unrestricted file types.

Error message analysis

Trigger errors to check for information leakage in error messages like stack traces or database details.

Client-side security review

Inspect client-side code for sensitive data exposure, insecure API keys, and validation bypass opportunities.

Rate limiting verification

Manually test rate limiting effectiveness on authentication endpoints and API calls.

Race condition testing

Test for time-of-check-time-of-use vulnerabilities in concurrent operations like payments or inventory.

API abuse testing

Test for mass assignment, parameter pollution, and other API-specific vulnerabilities.

Document findings

Create detailed reports with severity ratings, reproduction steps, and remediation recommendations.

Common Manual Testing Scenarios

Payment Flow Manipulation

Testing checkout processes for price manipulation, discount abuse, or inventory bypass vulnerabilities.

User Role Escalation

Attempting to access admin functions or elevate privileges through parameter tampering or direct object reference.

Workflow Bypass

Testing multi-step processes for steps that can be skipped or reordered to bypass security controls.

Data Export Abuse

Testing export functionality for unauthorized data access or excessive data exposure vulnerabilities.

Related Resources

Penetration Testing Guide

Comprehensive penetration testing methodology

API Security Testing

Manual API security testing techniques

Security Testing Tools

Tools to support manual security testing

Common Security Flaws

Most common vulnerabilities in AI-generated code

Combine Manual and Automated Testing

The best security programs combine automated scanning with skilled manual testing. Use VibeEval to handle automated vulnerability detection so your team can focus on complex business logic testing.