Drupal Penetration Testing for Public Sector and Enterprise Builds
Drupal penetration testing for a permission system granular enough to get wrong in a hundred places. A role granted Bypass content access control can view, edit and delete all content. CREST-certified testers, fixed price from £2,730, scoped in 24 hours.
- Unlimited retesting
- No rescheduling or cancellation fees
- Fixed quote within 24 hours
“I would highly recommend EJN Labs to any organisation seeking reliable, detailed, and well-managed penetration testing services, particularly for government or enterprise-level projects.”
“There wasn’t another company we could find that could deliver what we needed in the timeframe we needed. The client loved it, and we got instant ROI from the engagement.”
Drupal core has a strong security record and a disciplined advisory process. Contributed modules are a different matter, and a mature Drupal site runs a lot of them. Each one can define entities, routes, permissions and Views, and any of those can widen access in a way nobody intended.
Why Drupal estates fail on access, not injection
The failure modes are specific and repeatable. Bypass content access control granted to an editor role. Administer users granted to a role that only needed to manage a few accounts. Full HTML available to authenticated users. JSON:API with read-only mode switched off. No trusted_host_patterns line in settings.php.
Drupal’s JSON:API module ships in read-only mode, so write routes exist only where someone switched that off, and from then on every create, update and delete depends on your entity and field access being right. The trusted host mechanism is also off until $settings[‘trusted_host_patterns’] is added to settings.php, so emails and cache entries can carry a forged Host header’s domain.
We test it as one role against another. With an account for each role, we try to view unpublished nodes, edit content we did not create, create or change users, and call the JSON:API and REST endpoints with write methods, then compare what each role reaches with what your permission matrix says it should. Drupal is one of several content platforms we publish pages for, and we pen test others besides. A Drupal pentest from us always includes this role-by-role pass. ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS and Cyber Essentials Plus audits accept manual penetration test evidence. Scan-only evidence is generally insufficient.
MODULES, ROLES + VIEWS
What we actually pen test on a Drupal site
Manual pen testing across contributed and custom modules, the permission matrix, Views and REST exports, and the authentication layer behind them.
Contributed module vulnerabilities
Every contributed and custom module enumerated and version-matched against the Drupal security advisories, with manual verification of anything touching access control, file handling or user input.
Role and permission matrix
Each role tested against the content and administrative surface it should and should not reach, including the permissions that quietly grant more than their label suggests, such as administer nodes or bypass node access.
Views and access bypass
Views, contextual filters and REST exports tested for content leaking past node access, including unpublished, moderated and access-restricted nodes appearing in listings, feeds or search.
Form API and input handling
Form API token handling, AJAX callbacks, entity reference and autocomplete endpoints, and file and image field upload validation.
Configuration and multisite exposure
Settings file and database credential exposure, update and install path availability, private file system configuration, and cross-site leakage where a multisite install shares a codebase.
Authentication and session
Login throttling, password reset flow, session handling across HTTPS, and whether external authentication modules such as SAML or LDAP enforce what they claim.
METHODOLOGY
Drupal Penetration Testing: From Scope to Attestation
CREST-aligned methodology built on OWASP Web Security Testing Guide, OWASP ASVS, NIST SP 800-115, and PTES. Each finding maps to all four standards plus your specific compliance regime.
Reconnaissance
Application mapping, technology fingerprinting, content discovery, parameter enumeration, authentication-flow analysis, role-matrix construction.
Vulnerability Assessment
Authenticated and unauthenticated automated scanning across every user role, plus targeted manual checks for known weakness patterns.
Manual Exploitation
Hands-on testing by a CREST-certified pentester. Business-logic exploitation, chained vulnerabilities, privilege escalation, impact validation.
Reporting + Retest
Executive summary, technical report with CVSS scores and reproduction steps, walkthrough call, free retest after remediation, attestation letter.
CREDENTIALS
Verified Accreditations Auditors Accept
Every credential below is independently verifiable. UK procurement teams, FCA supervisors, ISO 27001 / SOC 2 auditors, and cyber insurance underwriters all recognise these standards.
GET YOUR QUOTE
Get a CREST Drupal pen test quote in 24 hours
A fixed-price quote back in one business day, from a named CREST assessor. No sales pipeline, no chasing.
- CREST and IASME accredited. Testing your auditors and clients already recognise.
- Fast-track testing within 24 hours where required. Free retest of every fix included.
- Live findings via your client portal, not a four-week PDF.
- Fixed price from £3,500 for a single-role, single-app scope, agreed up front. Most engagements run £5,000 and up. No day-rate surprises.
Dan WilcocksonFounder, CelloriUnder NDA Further named references available on a scoping call.
- We reply within one business day with a fixed-price quote from a named CREST assessor.
- You approve the scope and we book a start date, usually within 24 hours.
- Live findings land in your client portal as we test, with a free retest of every fix.
Get your fixed pen test quote in 24 hours
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COMPLIANCE READY
Reports Mapped to Every Framework
Findings are explicitly tagged to the relevant control reference. Your audit team submits the report directly without translation work.
ISO 27001:2022
Annex A.8.8 management of technical vulnerabilities plus A.5.15-5.18 and A.8.2-8.5 access control validation.
SOC 2 Type I & II
CC6 logical access, CC7 system operations, CC8 change management evidence.
PCI DSS
Requirement 11.4 application penetration testing across cardholder data environments, including ecommerce penetration testing for online retail platforms.
FCA SYSC
SYSC 4.1.1R, 6.1.1R, 13 mapped to each finding for FCA-regulated firms.
UK GDPR
Article 32 effectiveness testing, customer-data security controls, ICO-acceptable evidence.
Cyber Essentials Plus
Direct certification through our IASME body status, single-vendor delivery.
PRICING
Transparent Drupal Penetration Testing Pricing
Pricing depends on app complexity, user-role count, business-logic depth, and integration surface. The day count flexes; the included deliverables stay the same across all engagements.
2 to 3 testing days
Single user role, basic CRUD application, marketing website with auth. Around 5 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quote3 to 5 testing days
Multi-role SaaS, business application with payment integration. Around 8 to 12 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quote5 to 7 testing days
Multi-tenant platform, complex authorisation matrix, integration-heavy applications. Around 15 to 20 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quotePart of Technologies We Pen Test. These are examples of the stacks we publish pages for, not a complete list. If yours is not here we still test it. Related pages:
BY SECTOR
Drupal Penetration Testing for Your Sector
Sector-specialist scoping for UK businesses with sector-specific compliance regimes and threat models.
Fintech & FCA-Regulated
FCA SYSC, Open Banking FAPI 1.0, PSD2 SCA, payment-flow scrutiny, KYC/AML testing.
Fintech sector pageSaaS Companies
SOC 2 Type I & II evidence, multi-tenant boundaries, role escalation, customer-tenant isolation.
SaaS sector pageLaw Firms
SRA Cyber Standard, privileged data, conveyancing fraud defence, partner-tier procurement.
Law firm sector pageHealthcare
NHS DTAC, DSP Toolkit v6, UK GDPR Article 32, EHR systems, telehealth platforms.
Healthcare sector pageInsurance
FCA / PRA Operational Resilience, cyber underwriting, claims data, broker portals.
Insurance sector pagePublic Sector
CCS / G-Cloud framework, NCSC-aligned, citizen-facing services, PSN-compliance scrutiny.
Public sector pageWHY EJN LABS
What You Get From Drupal Penetration Testing
Six concrete differentiators competitors don’t all match.
CREST-Certified Testers, Verifiable
Every test by a CREST-certified pen tester (CRT, CCT APP, CCT INF where applicable). Verify our company status at crest-approved.org.
24-Hour Startup, Where Required
From signed scope to active testing in a single business day for incident response, audit deadlines, or regulator-driven timelines.
Live Findings, Not 4-Week PDFs
Critical issues reported during testing through your client portal. Your team remediates while testing continues.
Audit-Ready Reports
Executive summary plus full technical report with CVSS scores and explicit framework mappings (ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS, FCA SYSC).
Free Retests, Standard
Verify remediation of every finding before close-out. Letter of attestation for audit submission included. Most competitors charge £1,500-£3,000 per retest.
UK-Based CREST Testers
Every engagement performed by vetted, UK-based CREST-certified testers, matched to your needs, security clearance, and compliance scope.
FAQ
Frequently Asked
Do you test Drupal 7 sites?
Yes, and we will be blunt about it in the report. Drupal 7 reached end of life, so unpatched core issues are no longer theoretical. If you are still on it we scope the test around what can actually be remediated and say what cannot.
Our editor role has Bypass content access control. Is that a problem?
It is worth testing. Drupal describes the permission as letting a role view, edit and delete all content regardless of permission restrictions, and marks it as restricted access in node.permissions.yml. We check which roles hold it and whether any of them need it, then try the actions it allows from each account.
Can you test behind a login for a restricted area?
Yes, and you should want us to. Most of the meaningful Drupal findings are only reachable with credentials, so we ask for one account per role and pen test the boundaries between them.
What about our custom modules?
In scope by default. Custom modules are usually where the interesting findings are, because they get less review than contributed ones. If you can give us read access to the code we use it alongside the black box testing.
Our JSON:API is enabled with writes allowed. Do you test it?
Yes. Read-only mode is on by default in Drupal’s JSON:API module, so we look at where it has been switched off at /admin/config/services/jsonapi. With one account per role we try POST, PATCH and DELETE against each resource type and check what entity and field access lets through.
20+ CREST-accredited testing services in one place
Web, mobile, API, cloud, AI, infrastructure, red team. Pick the test that fits your environment.
Get a fixed price for your Drupal site
Send us the module list, the roles and whether a restricted area is in scope. You get a fixed-price quote from a named CREST assessor within one business day and a report your auditor will accept.
