A Comprehensive Evaluation and Practice of System Penetration Testing
Chunyi Zhang, Jin Zeng, Xiaoqi Li
TL;DR
The paper addresses the need for rigorous system security assessment through penetration testing in increasingly complex IT environments. It proposes a standardized six-phase penetration testing process and a quantitative, tool-weighting evaluation model, validated by host and web application experiments and real-world case analyses. The key contributions are the six-phase process design, the weighted tool evaluation framework with schemes for balanced, enterprise, and practical scenarios, and experimental demonstrations on Windows, Linux, and DVWA, plus lessons from high-profile incidents. The work advances proactive defense by providing concrete methodologies and decision criteria to guide practitioners toward repeatable, automation-friendly penetration testing and threat modeling, with a constraint that the tooling weights satisfy $\omega_V+\omega_E+\omega_W+\omega_H+\omega_P+\omega_C+\omega_R+\omega_S+\omega_I=100\%$.
Abstract
With the rapid advancement of information technology, the complexity of applications continues to increase, and the cybersecurity challenges we face are also escalating. This paper aims to investigate the methods and practices of system security penetration testing, exploring how to enhance system security through systematic penetration testing processes and technical approaches. It also examines existing penetration tools, analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, and applicable domains to guide penetration testers in tool selection. Furthermore, based on the penetration testing process outlined in this paper, appropriate tools are selected to replicate attack processes using target ranges and target machines. Finally, through practical case analysis, lessons learned from successful attacks are summarized to inform future research.