A penetration test is only as valuable as what makes it into the report.
You can hire the best hacker in the world — someone who finds creative attack paths, uncovers subtle flaws, and really knows their stuff. But if what they discovered doesn’t make it into the report clearly and understandably, it might as well have never happened.
At that point, it wasn’t a security assessment. It was just a fun challenge for them — not a useful tool for your team.
The report is what your developers use to fix issues.
It’s what your auditor reviews to confirm compliance.
It’s what your leadership sees to understand risk.
We’ve heard all the horror stories from clients:
- Reports full of raw scanner dumps, not a single validated finding
- No steps to reproduce, just vague bullet points
- Vague, copy-pasted remediation guidance that doesn’t even match the technology stack
- Hackers flexing in the report instead of helping the team fix anything
So what does a good pentest report actually look like? Here’s what we look for at Asteros — and what we deliver.
✅ What a Good Penetration Test Report Includes
✔ Manual Testing with Real Coverage
A real pentest includes human-led testing backed by tools. Scanners help with breadth, but manual testing provides depth — finding business logic issues, privilege escalation paths, and chained vulnerabilities that scanners will never touch.
✔ Scanner Output Supplemented — Not Dumped
Yes, scanners are useful. But dumping them into a report without validation wastes everyone’s time. Good reports include verified, relevant findings, not false positives or noise.
✔ Steps to Reproduce
Each issue should include clear, actionable steps so your dev team can recreate the issue, test fixes, and learn from the risk. Screenshots, requests/responses, and guidance should all be part of the package.
✔ Risk Ratings — With Context
We use the OWASP Risk Rating Methodology to score findings based on likelihood and impact, not just CVSS numbers. And more importantly, we explain why something matters in your environment — not just generically.
✔ Executive Summaries and Technical Detail
A good report speaks to multiple audiences:
- Executives and auditors want risk summaries
- Developers and engineers need detailed repro and fix guidance
- Asset owners need to understand scope and severity
✔ Standards-Based Testing (ASVS, PTES)
For web apps, we align tests to the OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS). It keeps coverage consistent and makes the report useful for SOC 2 and PCI-DSS audits.
✔ Real-World Threat Context
Your app doesn’t live in a vacuum. Good reports show findings in the context of real-world attacker goals, your architecture, and your threat model. That’s the difference between a list of problems and a security narrative.
❌ What a Bad Report Looks Like
✘ Scanner Dumps
Pages of unverified findings with no prioritization, false positives, and no remediation value.
✘ “LOL We Pwned You” with No Structure
A clever attacker story is fun… but not helpful if there’s no breadth of coverage, no methodology, and no validation.
✘ Vague or Irrelevant Remediation Guidance
If every fix is “update your software” or “patch the thing,” you’re not getting real guidance.
✘ Opaque or Incomplete
If your team can’t understand the findings, or recreate them to test a fix, what’s the point?
✘ No Threat Model, No Context
Generic reports that don’t account for how your app works — or what an attacker would actually want from it — miss the whole point.
✘ Copy-Paste Jobs
We’ve seen reports that literally included findings for unrelated systems. If your vendor can’t be bothered to clean up their report, don’t trust their testing either.
A Good Report Is a Security Tool — Not Just an Audit Artifact
Your pentest report should help you:
- Pass your audit (PCI, SOC 2, etc.)
- Fix what matters most
- Understand your system’s real-world risk exposure
- Improve your security posture over time
That’s what we aim to deliver at Asteros — no fluff, no filler, and nothing you can’t take action on.
Need a pentest report that won’t collect dust in a folder? Lets chat 👇